US’s Western Aircraft Inc. eyes scheduled commuter ops

Western Aircraft (Boise) – the air taxi that operates for Lanai Air (Lanai City) – has applied to the US Department of Transportation (DOT) for permission to operate interstate and foreign scheduled flights as a commuter air carrier using small aircraft (i.e. nine seats or less).

If granted, Western plans to operate a scheduled commuter service using PC-12s between Honolulu and Lanai City on behalf of Lanai Air, and also to operate scheduled commuter flights between Boise, Idaho and cities in the Western part of the United States

The Boise, Idaho-based company currently conducts Parts 135 ad-hoc passenger charters between Lanai City and Honolulu under a management contract with Lanai Air, an air charter broker.

Western says it will conduct scheduled round-trip commuter operations, on the half-hour, from Honolulu to Lanai Resorts throughout the Hawaiian Islands under the Lalai Air brand and may want to add more routes in future.

All commuter flights will be operated with two PC-12s – N92NG (msn 1192) and N439CM (msn 1377) based in Honolulu – leased to Western Aircraft under a management agreement with Lanai Resorts, LLC, trading as Pulama Lanai. Five additional PC-12s owned by Lanai Resorts are leased to Western Aircraft to provide charter flights.

Western Aircraft requests DOT economic authority and FAA safety regulatory authority to publish a flight schedule to assist customers booking vacations at Lanai’s resorts.

According to its application, Western Aircraft owns one PC-12, N82HR (msn 408) and leases another 11 of the type. In the near future, the company does not plan to purchase or lease additional aircraft.

Western Aircraft is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Greenwich, which in turn is 100% owned by W.R. Berkley Corporation and its subsidiaries.

As reported, Lanai Air’s previous partner Mokulele Airlines (MHO, Kona) was acquired by Southern Airways Express (9X, Memphis Int’l) in 2019.