Two Inter-Island Airlines Enter Joint-Venture

This week, Mokulele Airlines and go! Airlines have agreed to join efforts as inter-island air carriers. After combining, go! Mokulele will become the second largest inter-island carrier behind the leader, Hawaiian Airlines. You can read the full announcement here.

If you have tickets booked on either go! or Mokulele, you probably won’t notice much of a difference, at least initially. From the Press Release, “Passengers will continue to book reservations on both go!

(visit www.iflygo.com) and Mokulele (visit www.mokulele.com), check in for jet services at the newly co-branded go! Mokulele ticket counters and will have the added benefit of seamless travel to the destinations served by both airlines. Existing reservations booked with both go! and Mokulele will be honored.”  See all the Frequently Asked Questions about this joint venture.

Beyond the co-branded go! Mokulele ticket counter, perhaps the other change that passengers may notice is that Mokulele will no longer offer first class service as three of its 70-seat Embraer E170 jets will be redeployed to the US Mainland. The routes that used the Embraer E170 jets will most likely be replaced by the Bombardier CRJ-200 jets with 50 seats. (Source)

As a result of this joint venture, I have updated my guide to inter-island travel in Hawaii.

This joint venture takes out an element of competition, which normally leads to higher costs, according to the law of supply and demand. go! has always aimed to be Hawaii’s low-cost carrier, so, could that mean that a larger fleet and resources will lead to even lower prices? What do you think this joint venture means for inter-island service and fares?