Pacific Air Holdings LLC · Shawnee Regional Airport (KSNL), Oklahoma

Forty years and counting in the sky.

The company that started as a Las Vegas charter outfit in 1974 went on to fly Hawaii's smallest airstrips, the high desert of New Mexico, and the Southeast, and now leases Cessna Caravans around the world from its hangar in Shawnee.1313

52years since Air Nevada was incorporated in Las Vegas in July 19741
7airline brands flown: Air Nevada, Pacific Wings, PW Express, New Mexico Airlines, GeorgiaSkies, TennesseeSkies, KentuckySkies1
30+years owning and operating Cessna Caravans13
13aircraft on lease in Thailand, Barbados, St. Maarten, Indonesia, Israel and the U.S. (2020)11
29,000square feet in Hangar 11 at Shawnee Regional Airport13

The story

Small airplanes, big distances

Air Nevada began in July 1974 as an on-demand charter operator in Las Vegas, flying twin-engine Cessna 402s to the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. In 1978 it added scheduled nonstops between Las Vegas and Grand Canyon National Park Airport.12

When Eagle Canyon Airlines bought the Nevada and Arizona tour network in January 1998, the company renamed itself Pacific Wings and started scheduled inter-island service in Hawaii from Kahului, Maui. For fifteen years it connected places most airlines skipped: Hana, Kalaupapa, Kamuela, Molokai and Lanai.123

Starting in 2007 the company took on federal Essential Air Service contracts on the mainland, flying nine-seat Cessna 208B Grand Caravans under local names: New Mexico Airlines, GeorgiaSkies, TennesseeSkies and KentuckySkies.146

Pacific Air Holdings, the parent company, moved from Mesa, Arizona, to Shawnee, Oklahoma, in 2015 and built its hangar at Shawnee Regional Airport in 2017. KSNL Aero, an FAA Part 145 repair station, opened in the same hangar in 2018. Today the group leases Caravans worldwide, maintains turboprop and turbine aircraft, and overhauls the PT6A engines that power them.101113

The logbook

Every leg, 1974 to today

Pick an era or read the whole thing. Each entry links to the article it came from.

    Route charts

    Where the airplanes went

    Choose a network. Airports are placed by their real latitude and longitude; tap one to see its name.

    ChartGrid

      The family of brands

      Names on the tail

      Airlines, a lessor, a repair station and an Indonesian carrier, all from the same roots.

      The fleet

      Two airplanes, fifty years

      The company started on the twin-engine Cessna 402 and built everything after on the single-engine Cessna 208B Grand Caravan.

      The people

      Who flew it

      The names that show up again and again in the record.

      RFF

      R. Franklin Ford

      CEO, Founder, Pacific Air Holdings and Subsidiaries

      • Chief Executive and Founder of Pacific Air Holdings L.L.C. and its subsidiaries Aero Wing Equipment, Bravo Wing Equipment, Delta Wing Equipment, Pacific Wings, GeorgiaSkies, TennesseeSkies and New Mexico Airlines.10
      • Co-owner of Pacific Wings with Greg Kahlstorf, each holding 50 percent (listed as Frank Ford).1
      • ATP Pilot. The Airline Transport Pilot certificate is the highest pilot certificate the FAA issues, and it is the one a captain needs to command a scheduled U.S. airline flight. Applicants must be at least 23, generally log 1,500 hours of flight time, and pass written and practical exams on instrument flying, multi-crew operations and aircraft systems.16 Frank Ford holds the same certificate that every captain in the company's history carried, from the Las Vegas charters of the 1970s to the Caravans over Molokai and the New Mexico high desert. The man who founded Pacific Air Holdings understands the airplanes from the left seat as well as from the boardroom.

      The full name Richard Franklin Ford comes from the company. Published sources use R. Franklin Ford and Frank Ford; we read these as the same person.

      GK

      Greg Kahlstorf

      CEO, Pacific Wings

      • Co-owner of Pacific Wings, 50 percent.1
      • CEO of Pacific Wings, New Mexico Airlines and GeorgiaSkies.468
      • Led the airline's Hawaii restart in July 2009, keeping the only scheduled service to Kalaupapa.8

      In memory. Greg passed away a few years ago. The routes he fought for, from Kalaupapa to Owensboro, carried people to places most airlines never served, and they remain a proud part of this company's story.

      DL

      Darrin Lofton

      President, Pacific Air Holdings, its subsidiaries & KSNL Aero

      • President of Pacific Air Holdings and Co-Owner of KSNL Aero, 50 percent.101112
      • President of Pacific Wings.
      • President, Accountable Manager, Director of Maintenance, Chief Inspector and Director of Operations of New Mexico Airlines.
      • Accountable Manager of KSNL Aero, project manager and owner's representative for Delta Wing Equipment hangar construction.
      • Also owns Ikairos Air Services in Indonesia along with Frank Ford and Niko Kogoya.11 He serves there as President Direktor and Accountable Manager over operations.

      Home base · KSNL · Runway 17/35

      Shawnee, Oklahoma

      About 30 miles east of Oklahoma City, just off I-40, Delta Wing Equipment has built a 29,000 sq ft facility with a height of 50 ft at the peak. Pacific Air Holdings LLC has brought its experience, knowledge and job creation to Shawnee, Oklahoma.13

      Caravan Leasing and Sales

      Today Pacific Air Holdings L.L.C. leases and sells the aircraft that they have successfully operated for over thirty years, the Cessna Grand Caravan 208B. Their worldwide operation stretches from the Middle East, across Asia and the United States.101113

      Aircraft Sales

      The group today

      • Pacific Air Holdings LLCWorldwide Aircraft Leasing and Sales · Shawnee, OK. Cooperating with its sister companies: 14 CFR Part 145 Repair Station KSNL Aero L.L.C., Aviation Support and Parts Supplier KSNL Aero Asia Co. Ltd., and Indonesian Part 119 Airline PT Ikairos Air Services.
      • KSNL Aero LLCFAA Part 145 repair station · Shawnee, OK
      • PT Ikairos Air ServicesIndonesian airline, AOC 119-079 · BSD City, Indonesia
      • KSNL Aero Asia Co LtdParts sales and service for Southeast Asia · Samut Prakan, Thailand

      Hangar 11

      2202 Airport Drive, Hangar 11
      Shawnee, OK 74804
      (405) 402-1588
      info@ksnlaero.com

      Contact details from ksnlaero.com.13

      Sources

      Where this comes from

      Every fact on this page comes from the articles below. Where sources disagree, the logbook says so.

      1. Pacific Wings, Wikipedia.
      2. FBF (Flashback Friday) in Aviation History: Pacific Wings, AirlineGeeks, Aug. 12, 2016.
      3. Article on Pacific Wings ending Hawaii service, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 2013.
      4. New Mexico Airlines, Wikipedia.
      5. New Mexico Airlines first carrier to serve Los Alamos, ch-aviation, Mar. 13, 2013.
      6. GeorgiaSkies, Wikipedia.
      7. Georgia Skies, Sunshine Skies (Southeast airline history archive).
      8. Pacific Wings Stops and Restarts Hawai'i Flights, Cranky Flier, July 15, 2009.
      9. Post on Pacific Wings' planned Owensboro service, World Airline News, June 30, 2009.
      10. Pacific Air Holdings L.L.C., Wikipedia (citing the Shawnee News-Star, Mar. 19, 2017, and NewsOK, July 9, 2018).
      11. KSNL Aero: Repair Biz Adds Larger Market Opp in Town, Vicky O. Misa, The Shawnee News-Star via Aviation Pros, Aug. 5, 2020.
      12. KSNL Aero Ready to Support Regional Aircraft Operators, Aviation Pros, Apr. 19, 2022.
      13. KSNL Aero, company website.
      14. Pacific Air Holdings, company website.
      15. Shawnee Regional Airport, Wikipedia.
      16. 14 CFR Part 61, Subpart G: Airline Transport Pilots, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations.