Helicopter Tours

Maui is even more beautiful from the air than from the ground.

In a helicopter, your pilot-guide can fly you over east Maui's rain forest and waterfalls, west Maui's mountains, and Haleakala's volcano crater.  Most trips are 45 to 60 minutes.  There are even longer trips that take you over the nearby island of Molokai or to the Big Island of Hawaii.  Some tours include a video DVD of your actual tour for you to take home.

Helicopter tours do have some risks.  There have been fatal crashes of helicopters on Maui and the other Hawaiian islands.

The different companies offering helicopter tours on Maui use different types of helicopters.  See below for a discussion of some of the companies operating helicopters on Maui, and the differences that will help you decide which one to use.

Blue Hawaiian Helicopter   808-871-8844
This is a first-class company whose helicopters have large windows and individual luxury seats (not bench seats).  They fly big modern Eco-Star helicopters that hold six passengers.  You can watch them take off and land live right now from the link to their webcam on the Maui webcams page of this website.
Blue Hawaiian website

Sunshine Helicopters   808-270-3999
Possibly the second-most-luxurious Maui helicopter company, they fly both AStar and WhisperStar helicopters.  The WhisperStar is very similar to Blue Hawaiian's Eco-Star, with six individual seats.  The AStars, which they call "Black Beauties," are an older model with bench seats, also holding six passengers.  Unlike most companies, Sunshine will guarantee you a front-row seat for extra cost.
Sunshine website

Air Maui   877-238-4942
This is a smaller family-owned company that flies AStar helicopters.  Six passengers in bench seats.  They offer a discount for booking directly with them at the above phone number.  They also have an excellent free map of Maui that you can pick up in the baggage claim area at Kahului Airport when you arrive on Maui, or ask them to mail to you by calling that same number.
Air Maui website

AlexAir   888-418-8455
This company flies AStar helicopters with five passengers, and a smaller Hughes 500 helicopter with three passengers.  Unlike the above companies, they also offer a doors-off helicopter flight!  Sometimes discounted from activity sales companies or online.
AlexAir website