Pacific Helicopter Tours review: private MD500 flights, doors off

Pacific Helicopter Tours is the small one. Where Air Maui, Blue Hawaiian and Maverick sell seats in six- and seven-passenger cabins, Pacific sells the whole helicopter: a three-seat MD500 from Hangar 109 at the Kahului Heliport, doors on or off as you prefer, at $1,450 for 60 minutes or $2,175 for 90 minutes per aircraft, according to its tour pages. For a couple or a trio who want a custom route and a window for everyone, nobody else on Maui publishes anything like it; the caveat is that you must confirm the company is flying before you count on it. Prices checked regularly.

What it actually is

The tour business belongs to Pacific Helicopters, a family-owned Maui company that its corporate site says was founded in 1974 and is led by Alexander "Sandy" Fisher and Andrea Fisher. That corporate site is about heavy-lift and utility work: a Bell 204B, external loads, agricultural flying, emergency services, with FAA Part 133 and Part 137 certificates listed. Passenger tours live on a separate site, tours.pacifichelicoptershawaii.com, under the name Pacific Helicopter Tours, Inc., with its own phone number and email at the heliport.

That split matters for one reason. On the day we checked, the tour site's home page displayed a maintenance notice, while its Complete Island, Hana, Molokai, 3 Island, FAQ, aircraft and contact pages all loaded with prices and booking buttons. The buttons lead to a FareHarbor calendar. The company's older address, pacifichelicoptertours.com, no longer serves its site; it returns a domain-parking script. None of this proves the tours have stopped, but it is enough that we would phone or email before building a day around a date. Neither site publishes the operating certificate the tours are flown under; ask when you call.

Aircraft, doors and seats

The aircraft is an MD Helicopters MD500 with three passenger seats: two in the rear and one in front beside the pilot. There is no middle seat, so the seat-assignment lottery that shapes every six-seat AStar or Eco-Star flight does not apply here; the company says it prioritizes weight and balance for safety but tries to honor seat requests. The cabin has a large front bubble and, per the aircraft page, wide door openings that suit photography.

Doors are your call. The FAQ, which still frames the private-only policy as a pandemic-era decision, describes both options honestly: closed doors mean wind protection and clearer narration; doors off mean no window glare, cooler air and the wind, with flight suits lent free if you have no jacket. Mixed configurations, one door off and one on, are possible subject to weight and balance, and there is no surcharge either way. Every passenger has a push-to-talk intercom button, and the pilot will hold longer over whales or reposition for a photo on request: the practical advantage of a private aircraft. Our doors-off guide covers what the open door changes in more detail.

Routes and prices, as published

All flights depart the Kahului Heliport, next to Kahului Airport (OGG). Prices are per aircraft for one to three passengers, according to the tour pages.

Flight	Airtime	Route in brief	Price per aircraft	Per seat if three fly
Hana Rainforest & Waterfalls	60 min	North shore, Keʻanae Peninsula, Hāna Bay, a look into Haleakalā crater	$1,450	$483
West Maui Mountain & Waterfalls	60 min	West Maui Mountains valleys and waterfalls	$1,450	$483
Complete Island	90 min	Road to Hāna coast, south coast, West Maui Mountains	$2,175	$725
Molokai Sea Cliffs & Waterfalls	90 min	West Maui, Pailolo Channel, Molokai's north-shore cliffs and Hālawa	$2,175	$725
3 Island	90 min	Molokai cliffs, West Maui waterfalls, Lānaʻi's windward coast	$2,175	$725

A cliff-side landing at Kahakuloa can be added to a 90-minute flight at checkout; the add-on price is not published. Custom charters are offered on request. Per seat, three people on a 60-minute flight pay $483, a little more than a seat on a scheduled 45-minute tour ($395.99 to $451.99 on GetYourGuide) or on the 50-minute Blue Hawaiian flights ($459); on a 90-minute flight the $725 per seat compares with the $611 landing tour and with the premium listings below, which are shown per person.

Price check · GetYourGuide

Live prices in US dollars, per person, checked regularly. Sorted from lowest.

Flight	Price	Airtime	Doors	Rating
Maui: Road to Hana Helicopter & Waterfall Tour with Landing	$2,303 Lowest	75 min	On	★ 4.9 (332)	Check dates
Central Maui: Two-Island Scenic Helicopter Flight to Molokai	$2,653	55 min	On	★ 4.8 (188)	Check dates
Maui: 3-Island Hawaiian Odyssey Helicopter Flight	$3,353	65 min	On	★ 4.6 (6)	Check dates

Rules only this page gives you

• Weight. The company caps the combined weight of the group at 750 lb, citing the manufacturer's limits. There is no per-seat threshold and no comfort-seat charge; with one aircraft per booking, the group total is the only number. Compare the per-seat rules of the other operators in our weight guide.
• Age. All ages are welcome on doors-on flights. Children under 15, or under 85 lb, need the approval of the company's flight supervisors for any doors-off flight.
• Check-in. Arrive 30 minutes before departure for the safety briefing and life-preserver fitting.
• Loose items. Cameras and phones are welcome, including DSLRs and GoPros, but each must have a wrist or neck strap; loaner phone lanyards are available. No selfie sticks or anything extending more than 10 inches. Hats, keys, visors, scarves and hair clips stay in the car or the office; tie long hair back.
• Footwear and clothing. For doors-off, wear shoes that will not fly off. Cabin temperature can drop to 60–65°F (16–18°C) in flight, so bring a light jacket or borrow a flight suit.
• Cancellation and weather. 48 hours' notice for a full refund; inside 48 hours a refund is not guaranteed. Weather delays and cancellations are the pilot's call; the company reschedules where it can and refunds in full if it cannot.
• Time of day. The FAQ recommends the 7:30 departure for serious photographers. Our best-time page explains why mornings are usually clearer.

How it compares

Pacific is the only Maui operator we can verify that sells private flights at this price. Blue Hawaiian publishes Maui private charters from $3,900 per hour, according to bluehawaiian.com, for up to six passengers; Air Maui quotes $3,200 per hour for its charter, doors on or off; Maverick lists Maui charters from $3,900. The $2,303 to $3,353 "per person" flights in the table above match Maverick's three scheduled tours by name and duration and are the platform's premium tier; read each listing carefully for what the price covers before comparing it with Pacific's per-aircraft rate. For doors-off specifically, Air Maui runs the only scheduled shared-cabin open-door flight on Maui at $451.99 a seat on GetYourGuide; Pacific is the private alternative, so Air Maui's "only doors-off" claim is true of shared flights, not of the island. Our private charter guide sets all three side by side.

Pacific is not on GetYourGuide or, as far as we can see, on any platform: archived copies of all nine Maui helicopter listings there name Air Maui, Blue Hawaiian or Maverick as the activity provider. You book on its own site, you deal with the company directly on weather days, and you accept its 48-hour cancellation window rather than GetYourGuide's 24 hours. Directions to the heliport and where to park are on our Kahului Heliport page.

Our call

Book Pacific Helicopter Tours if you are a party of two or three, want a private aircraft and can confirm a date by phone or email first.

Nobody else on Maui publishes a private, doors-optional flight at $1,450 to $2,175 per aircraft, which works out cheaper per seat than the premium listings on GetYourGuide when three of you fly. The catch is certainty: the booking site's front page is under maintenance, so do not rely on it alone.

Skip it if you are flying solo on a budget, you need the reassurance of a live booking calendar and 24-hour cancellation, or anyone in your party weighs enough to push the group past 750 lb.

Check the shared doors-off flight instead from $451.99