Sunshine Helicopters Maui: closed, and what to book instead

Sunshine Helicopters no longer flies from Maui. If you searched "sunshine helicopters maui" hoping to book, the short version is: the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a liquidation, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Hawaii, its website has disappeared, and its listings on review sites are marked closed. This page explains how we checked, what to do if you hold a voucher, and which of the three operators still flying from the Kahului Heliport covers the routes Sunshine used to sell. Price level of the alternatives: $370 to $559 per seat direct, $395.99 to $611 on GetYourGuide.

What happened to Sunshine Helicopters

We check every operator on its own website first. Sunshine's domain, sunshinehelicopters.com, now answers with a redirect to unrelated third-party sites that have nothing to do with helicopters; there is no tour list, no FAQ, no booking engine. An Internet Archive copy made before the bankruptcy filing still shows the old site: helicopter tours of Maui, Kauaʻi and the Big Island, with Maui routes called Circle Island Deluxe (60 to 70 minutes), Hana Haleakala (40 to 50 minutes) and Molokai Deluxe (55 to 65 minutes). Nothing on it is current.

The public court record fills the gap. The docket for Sunshine Helicopters, Inc. in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Hawaii, case number 24-00989, shows a Chapter 7 filing with a trustee appointed. Chapter 7 is the liquidation chapter of the U.S. bankruptcy code: assets are sold and the business does not continue, unlike a Chapter 11 reorganization. The sale happened: an auctioneer acting by order of the court sold the company's Eurocopter EC130 and Airbus AS350 helicopters, engines, parts and branded merchandise from Hangar 107 at the Kahului Heliport and from its Kona and Kauaʻi bases. That matches what third-party listings now say, and it matches the empty website.

Because the official source is gone, the details people still search for cannot be checked as current: the founding year, the "first class" front seats, the departure from Kapalua. We do not repeat them as facts. If you see them stated as current on another site, that page is out of date.

The Kapalua question

Our briefing said Sunshine flew from Kahului and from Kapalua on the West Maui side. The Hawaii DOT Airports page for Kapalua Airport (JHM) describes it as served by commuter planes and lists no helicopter tour operator, and none of the three companies flying today publishes a West Maui departure. If you are staying in Kāʻanapali, Lahaina or Kapalua, plan on the drive to Kahului; our from Lahaina and Wailea page has times and options, and Kahului Heliport covers parking and check-in.

If you hold a Sunshine voucher or booking

This is not legal advice, but the order of calls is simple. Start with whoever took your money: a reseller, an activity desk or a hotel concierge may refund or rebook you with another operator, and a credit-card issuer may reverse the charge for a service not delivered. Only if you paid the company directly and cannot recover the money elsewhere does the bankruptcy case matter; the court docket names the trustee and the deadlines for claims, and a claim for a $400 tour is usually not worth a lawyer's time. Do not buy a "Sunshine" seat from any site still listing one until the seller confirms in writing which company will fly you.

Who flies Sunshine's routes now

Every scheduled Maui helicopter tour we can verify departs the Kahului Heliport, next to Kahului Airport (OGG). The three operators below are all live on their own websites, with prices as published there on the day we checked; prices checked regularly.

Operator	Closest match to a Sunshine flight	Airtime	Direct from	Rule to know
Air Maui	West Maui & Molokai Special; Hana & Haleakalā	45 min	$369.99	Comfort seat from 240 lb; the only shared-cabin doors-off flight
Blue Hawaiian	Waterfalls of West Maui and Molokai; its Haleakalā + West Maui tour	approx. 50 min	$419	Eco-Star and AStar; 24-hour cancellation
Maverick Helicopters	Molokai Voyage; Hawaiian Odyssey (adds Lānaʻi)	55–65 min	$399–499	275 lb per person; 72-hour cancellation

On GetYourGuide the same routes appear as three 45-minute Air Maui flights and three 50-to-90-minute Blue Hawaiian ones, all with free cancellation up to 24 hours before:

Price check · GetYourGuide

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

Flight	Price	Airtime	Doors	Rating
West Maui and Molokai Special 45-Minute Helicopter Tour	$395.99 Lowest	45 min	On	★ 5.0 (9)	Check dates
Hana Rainforest and Haleakala Crater 45-min Helicopter Tour	$395.99	45 min	On	★ 5.0 (21)	Check dates
Doors Off West Maui and Molokai Helicopter Tour	$451.99	45 min	Off	★ 4.8 (45)	Check dates

If a front-row seat was the reason you liked Sunshine, Air Maui sells its two front seats as a pair for $100 per person with a 380 lb combined cap, and Blue Hawaiian sells a front-row upgrade subject to its published weight caps; Maverick publishes no front-seat upgrade and assigns every seat by weight. Our weight restrictions page has each rule in full, and compare routes helps you pick between the Molokai and Hāna sides.

Hawaii Helicopters is not Sunshine renamed

A second briefing note called "Hawaii Helicopters" the successor to Sunshine. We found no such operator on Maui. The domain hawaiihelicopters.com redirects to bluehawaiian.com, so anyone typing it lands on Blue Hawaiian, which has flown under its own name since 1985. Our Hawaii Helicopters page walks through what people are probably looking for when they search that name.

How to read other sites about Sunshine Helicopters

Most pages ranking for this brand were written while the company was flying and describe tours, prices and a founding year as if they were current. Reseller pages are the riskiest: some booking engines keep dormant products online for months. Two quick tests tell you whether a page is current: does the operator's own website load, and does the page say when its prices were last checked? Ours shows the updated date at the top and links only to operators whose sites we opened this week. See the operators hub for every company and platform we have reviewed.

Our call

Do not try to book Sunshine Helicopters. Book Air Maui, Blue Hawaiian or Maverick for the same routes from the same heliport.

A Chapter 7 filing is a liquidation, not a reorganization, and the company's own website no longer exists, so there is nobody to fly you or refund you. The three operators still flying cover every route Sunshine sold, at $370 to $559 direct or $395.99 to $611 on GetYourGuide.

Skip it if any listing that still sells a Sunshine Helicopters seat, until the seller tells you in writing which company will actually fly you.

Check West Maui & Molokai dates from $395.99

Sunshine Helicopters is a closed chapter for Maui helicopter tours. Book one of the three operators still flying, and if you hold an old voucher, start with the seller, not the court.