Island Air announces it will no longer fly to Kauai

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - On Wednesday, Hawaii's second largest airline announced it will no longer be making trips to the island of Kauai.

Island Air announced that starting June 1, the company will eliminate its Kauai route and will also be reducing the number of flights to Lanai by more than half.

Once in effect, the flight from Honolulu to Lanai will take nearly an hour because the airline will be adding a layover on Maui to the route.

Island Air did not give a reason for the changes, but aviation expert Peter Forman speculates its fleet of 64-seat ATR72 planes are too large for frequent flights to neighbor islands.

Island Air also dropped service to Molokai in 2014.