Hawaiian Airlines (HA, Honolulu) is set to equip its island-hopper service, Ohana By Hawaiian, with ATR72s confirming an earlier report by ch-aviation. In a statement, Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. said it would acquire three ATR 72-200(F)/-500(F)/-600Fs for use on a new all-cargo service linking the various islands in the Hawaiian archipelago to Honolulu.

"The new operation will launch in the first half of 2016, starting with flights between Honolulu and Kona, Kahului, Lihue, and Hilo, with well-timed connections from Hawaiian Airlines’ mainland and international network," it said.

As with Ohana's trio of ATR42-500s, the freighters - two of which are ex-First Air (Carp) machines cn 432 and cn 423 - will be operated by Empire Airlines (EM, Coeur d'Alene Pappy Boyington).