Gallery Update: A Surprising Catch in McMinnville!

Today, I flew up to Hillsboro to attend the Hillsboro Airport Air Fair hosted by the Port of Portland. But before landing in Hillsboro, I made a quick detour to McMinnville to go checkout something I noticed thanks to FlightRadar24. And my hunch paid off as that something was one of Hawaiian Airlines' 'Ohana by Hawaiian ATR-42s that flew in as a ferry flight last night! A regional subsidiary of Hawaiian Airlines and fully integrated into their network, 'Ohana by Hawaiian serves inter-island routes throughout the state where passenger demand is smaller; Hawaiian Airlines uses Boeing 717s on inter-island routes as well, and those flights typically run the routes with greater demand.

Slated to begin service in 2013, 'Ohana flights did not begin operations until March 11, 2014 due to FAA certification delays caused by the government sequestration. Hawaiian Airlines owns the ATRs in 'Ohana titles and contracted Empire Airlines (a seasoned operator of ATR-42s and ATR-72s) to operate the flights with routes between Kahului, Maui and Moloka'i, Kahului and Kona, as well as Kahului and Hilo as of June 2014.

In July 2015, Hawaiian Airlines announced an expansion in their contract with Empire Airlines with all-cargo freighter service on inter-island routes in Hawaii with ATR-72-200Fs under the ʻOhana by Hawaiian banner; the inter-island cargo services began in March 2018. As of today, Hawaiian Airlines has seven turboprops as part of the 'Ohana by Hawaiian fleet split between four ATR-42-500s capable of carrying 48 passengers and three ATR-72-200Fs for cargo-only services.

McMinnville (MMV) 1

Preview:

Empire Airlines (d/b/a 'Ohana by Hawaiian) ATR-42-500 (N801HC) "Kaiāulu"parked on the ramp. This little ATR is a long way from Hawaii and made the eight hour flight covering over 2,500 miles the night before as SXA516. The flight was operated by Southern Cross Aviation (with the "Ferry" call-sign), a company based out of Florida that specializes in the purchase, refurbishment and sale of turboprop and light jet aircraft. I am thrilled to photograph the 'Ohana by Hawaiian livery as I didn't expect to see one here in Oregon of all places! Also, this is my first time seeing a passenger variant of the ATR family!

First delivered to CSA - Czech Airlines as OK-JFL in July 2004. It was eventually painted in the SkyTeam livery in May 2009 before acquisition by Hawaiian Airlines in October 2012. Odd configuration for this aircraft as passengers board from the rear door while the luggage hold is up front behind the cockpit!

Face-to-face with the ATR-42-500. Needless to say, seeing one of these in McMinnville is spotting highlight for me! As of today, I've seen at least one example of every aircraft type in Hawaiian Airlines' fleet except their Boeing 717!