Helping Isle Commerce Soar
By Pat Rosa
Chief Operating Officer of Aloha Air Cargo
The cargo industry, ever changing in its makeup and challenges faced, is a critical part of Hawaii commerce and the lifeblood of our economy.
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We are an island state. While we grow a portion of our consumed produce, grass-fed beef and other edibles, we still rely heavily on the import of more than 80 percent of all consumer goods and perishables into Hawaii. “Buy local” is not just a marketing slogan. It’s a call to action to minimize our reliance on imported goods, but also one that supports a healthy outlook to increase our export of “Made in Hawaii” products to share with the world.
Multi-modal shipping, including air cargo transport, is key to get a variety of goods into the hands of all of us — the consumers. We’re proud at Aloha Air Cargo to be an integral part of many Hawaii businesses’ supply chain.
Aloha Air Cargo has deep roots in the Islands through our shared history with our much-beloved predecessor, Aloha Airlines. We just celebrated our sixth anniversary since starting operations in 2008 as an independent cargo company, quickly becoming the preferred all-cargo carrier in the state. Couple that milestone with the completed construction of our new, 66,000-square-foot Honolulu cargo facility, our adjacent 50,000-square-foot airplane and maintenance hangar following suit with completion in February 2015, and two new Boeing 737-300 all-cargo freighters that have refreshed our fleet, and added more cargo capacity — we have a lot to celebrate!
On Oct. 23, we took another big leap — across the pond this time — by starting a new service lane from Los Angeles to Honolulu and back five days a week with a wide-body B767-300F. We recognized our customers’ growing need for more freight capacity, particularly since various passenger carriers have scaled back wide-body operations, limiting the space freight forwarders need to get their cargo from the Mainland to our Aloha State.
While we’ve been flying the skies of success, our journey is far from over. Now is an opportune time to take a hard look at our company and make the necessary changes to take us into the next six, 20 and 50 years. The largest part of our ongoing changes are to further invest in our employees and support the communities we live and work within. We are Aloha; we will continue to “move Hawaii” for decades to come.
Visit us at alohaaircargo.com for more information and the latest developments at Aloha Air Cargo.
