New Mexico Airlines President Greg Kahlstorf doesn’t really think operating an airline in West Texas and New Mexico is too different from operating an airline in Hawaii.

“In Hawaii, people basically hop from one island to another. That’s the same here except you’re hopping over desert,” Kahlstorf said Thursday in Midland International Airport where he and other company employees were busily setting up the New Mexico Airlines’ ticket counter.

Saturday the commuter airline will make its maiden flight at 5 a.m. from Hobbs, N.M., to Midland International. Kahlstorf said the base cost of that one-way flight will be $61 on the nine-passenger single-engine Cessna 208B Gran Caravan aircraft.

Initially, he said, there’ll be an early-morning flight into Midland, as well as a late evening one. But, more flights will be added based on customer demand.

New Mexico Airlines will also — in the near future — begin flights to El Paso, Ruidoso and Alamogordo, N.M., which is important for business travelers who were left without a flight to El Paso from Midland International recently when Southwest Airlines canceled its daily flight there.

Marv Easterly, director of Midland International Airport, said the airline will serve an important function for those travelers here who want to make connections to El Paso and other points west and north.

According to the airline’s website, it eventually plans to have as destinations Deming, N.M., Los Alamos, N.M., and Lubbock. Kahlstorf said Thursday, the airline is also considering flights to Abilene and San Angelo.

He said when news articles began appearing recently about loss of the Midland to El Paso flight, he started receiving calls from residents of this area asking for the airline to come in.

“That’s one of the things about Texans that we like,” he said. “You let us know what you want.”

He said the airline uses the Cessna 208B Gran Caravan aircraft, rated for nine passengers. He said one of the reasons that aircraft was chosen was because of the passenger room and the large cargo storage area in the belly of the aircraft.

New Mexico Airlines is a division of Pacific Wings Airlines. Started in 1974, Pacific Wings was awarded an Essential Air Service contract to serve Hobbs and Carlsbad, N.M., and began flights there July 1.

“We’re very excited about the enthusiastic response we have received from Midland and look forward to introducing this efficient new state-of-the-art aircraft to the community,” One of New Mexico Airlines’ pilots, Dave Jones, said.

While no company employees will be located at the ticket counter at Midland International, Kahlstorf said phones are available there in case some customer “wants to talk to a live person.”