Hawaii’s Kamaka Air says no plans to fly to US mainland

Hawaii’s Kamaka Air cargo carrier says it has no plans to fly to US mainland.

Kamaka Air, the 25-year old interisland air cargo airline that recently hired two former Southwest Airlines senior executives to expand the carrier’s footprint, will not jump into the Hawaii to US West Coast market to fill in the void left when Aloha Air Cargo bailed out of the Honolulu to Los Angeles route earlier this year.

David Hinderland, the new Kamaka Air CEO who spent 19 years as director of cargo marketing and business development with Southwest Airlines, scotched that rumor in an exclusive interview with Air Freight News (AFN).

Kamaka Air does not have a fleet that could make the transpacific crossing. It currently owns six Cessna Caravan 208 turboprops with a maximum payload of 3,000 pounds and one Cessna twin turboprop SkyCourier with plans to add more aircraft as it grows, Hinderland says.

Speculation that Kamaka Air would even consider moving beyond its traditional interisland roots and into the big leagues of air freight competing against major belly cargo carriers such as United, American, Delta and even Southwest, which entered the Hawaii to mainland US market five years ago, plus the integrators such as FedEX, UPS, DHL and Amazon’s Prime Air, was fueled by the fact Kamaka Air recruited not only Hinderland but Ken Gile, also a 25-year Southwest Air vet who is chief operating officer.

Hinderland and Gile want to duplicate the same Southwest “secret sauce” at Kamaka Air—namely “outstanding customer service with reliable frequent flights to key airports,” Hinderland says. At this point, the carrier flies from Oahu to Kona on the Big Island, Lanai, Molokai, Maui and Kauai or a total of eight airports in the Hawaiian chain.

Kamaka Air essentially is a flexible mini-freighter airline. “We are a hand-loaded, loose freight carrier. We directly take perishables, fresh foods, pharmaceuticals, cargoes from freight forwarders, U.S. Post Office mail, live animals,” says Hinderland. “You name it.”

Interisland airlines in Hawaii come and go over the years—Hawaiian Air was the first to shuttle passengers between islands starting in 1929. But what seems to give Kamaka Air its staying power is its focus on freight and flexibility.

“We are not a 121 scheduled carrier. We’re a 135 charter airline. We have space contracts with specific shippers and operate a full schedule Monday through Friday carrying a mixture of goods and a half schedule on Saturday,” says the CEO. “But we can also charter an entire plane out to a specific freight customer on an on-demand basis that could depart at midnight on a Saturday or even a Sunday if needed.” Charters can be booked anytime on a 24-hour basis via a phone call to the airline’s Honolulu headquarters.

Pricing is based on ‘a per-pound service” as opposed to fixed or flat rates.

Pressed on whether Kamaka Air will eventually move into the transpacific market as an extension of its interisland business, Hinderland says the 85-person, 30-pilot airline is concentrating on the 50th state for now but he did not specifically close the door on its future growth.

“We’re not doing a Honolulu to LA run at all now, he laughs, “not even in the near term. We don’t have any designs on 767 long haul freighters. We’re not ready for that. We just want to build up more terrific service for our Hawaiian island customers, add a few more aircraft and find other niches. We want to remain a bulletproof 135 charter airline.” He adds, however, that Kamaka Air bought a maintenance company that does work on its planes and “outside” aircraft.

Kamaka Air doesn’t own the interisland cargo market. Transair Cargo, launched in 1982, operates 737-200 freighters but it was shut down by the FAA for a period several years ago when the pilot ditched a plane in the Pacific shortly after takeoff. Air Freight News called Transair for an update, but the airline did not respond. Hinderland had no comment on Kamaka Air’s competitor.