Hawaii’s Island Air Agrees to Lease Five ATR 42s

Island Air, a regional carrier in Hawaii, has signed a letter of intent to lease five ATR 42 turboprop regional airliners.

Honolulu-based Island Air signed the lease agreement with Chicago’s Aerway Leasing, LLC and says the five ATR 42 aircraft will enable a dramatic upgrade in scale and service for the airline.

Hawaii’s Island Air embarked on a re-branding exercise in 2011, with a new livery for its aircraft forming a major part of the image overhaul. The re-branding was scheduled to come into effect from August 2012, as the carrier put into service the first of a group of 50-seat ATR 42 and 70-seat ATR 72 turboprops it was inducting to replace the 37-seat Dash 8-100s and Dash 8-200s which Island Air previously operated. This an artist’s impression of how Island Air’s ATR 72s and ATR 42s look in the carrier’s new livery

“These aircraft represent an integral part of our plan to deliver on our service commitment to the ever-increasing number of guests flying with us each day and is the next step in our NBP (new business plan),” says Lesley Kaneshiro, Island Air’s CEO.

The first two aircraft are set to arrive in Honolulu by the end of this year and the other three will join the Island Air fleet in the summer of 2013.

Founded in 1980 to provide scheduled service between Princeville and Honolulu, Island Air now offers more than 350 weekly flights between the islands of O’ahu (Honolulu International Airport), Maui (Kahului Airport and West Maui’s Kapalua Airport), Moloka’i (Ho’olehua Airport), Lana’i (Lana’i City Airport), Kaua’i (Lihue Airport), and the Island of Hawai’i (Kona International Airport).

For reservations and free membership in the airline’s Cloud 9 Rewards frequent-flyer program, visit www.IslandAir.com.

Since its creation, ATR has sold approximately 1,200 of its ATR 42 and ATR 72 turboprop regional airliners to more than 180 operators in 91 countries. ATR is an equal partnership between two major European aerospace companies, Alenia Aermacchi (a Finmeccanica Group company) and EADS. Its head office is in Toulouse in France.

Aerway Leasing, LLC is an aviation leasing company based in the U.S. Midwest, the company operating offices in Illinois and Wisconsin. An aviation leasing, asset management, and sales company, Aerway acquires, manages, leases, trades and tears down commercial aircraft and engines.