It may be difficult to get from the mainland to Hawaii these days, but it’s about to get easier to island-hop.

Mokulele Airlines, an inter-island commuter airline based in Kailua-Kona since 1998, announced Thursday that it will start offering service between Honolulu, Kona, Kahului, Hilo, and Lihu’e in November 2008.

The endeavor is part of a partnership with Indiana-based Republic Airlines, whose subsidiary Shuttle America previously operated the four small Embraer 170 jets that will be added to Mokulele’s fleet.

Mokulele currently operates seven planes that fly 56 times a day between seven Hawaii cities.

The new partnership will add 400 employees to the airline’s workforce, many of whom will likely be former Aloha Airlines and ATA employees who lost their jobs when those two airlines folded earlier this year.

Aloha and ATA operated dozens of flights from the mainland U.S. to Hawaii. With their closure, competition on the route declined dramatically, and airfares to the state spiked to all-time high levels.

Over the last few months prices have dropped though, as the struggling economy has prompted airlines to cut fares to attract passengers. Mokulele is considering eventually expanding to mainland service, which could reduce fares even further.

With the addition of the new flights Mokulele will be in a better position to compete directly with Hawaiian and go! Airlines, both of which also operate inter-island flights. However, Mokulele officials say they are not intending to start an all-out fare war.

Related links: MarketWatch, KPUA News, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Red Orbit

By Karen Elowitt for PeterGreenberg.com.

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