Oh, hey, a domestic fifth freedom flight! Mokulele Airlines was founded in 1994 as Mokulele Air Services. Although it originates from and is based in Hawaii, as part of the oft-mentioned Essential Air Service, they were granted the right to fly the Southern California route earlier this year; the one-propeller Cessna Caravans inaugurated the route on May 23rd.



Check-in at LAX is at Terminal 6. The Theme Building stands out in the background.



As has been the case with previous reviews on smaller air carriers, the customer service and staff were very good all around, although – probably due in large part to the fact that it was a new flight – the gate agent seemed frazzled at times.



The handful of other passengers and I were bused to the remote parking spot, where we were also told that the flight would be around 1.5 hours. Have a look at a few photos of this memorable flight:



The port of Long Beach.



Urban sprawl, to a hilt.



A mosaic of well-watered spaces.



But it’s not long before you hit the desert.



The plane that took us across southern California.



Welcome to Imperial. The most popular food in this drought-stricken place? Shaved ice, aka raspados.