How much does flight school cost in Hawaii?

Across the 3 Hawaii flight schools here that publish full rates, trainer rentals run $205 to $235 per hour and instruction $55 to $135 per hour, checked as recently as September 16, 2026. On each school's own published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate between $20,325 and $25,385, with a median of $21,405. These are PilotBound estimates built on published rates, not quotes from the schools.

What is the cheapest flight school in Hawaii?

Lani Lea Flight School in Honolulu publishes the lowest trainer rental of the 3 Hawaii schools listed here, $205 per hour for its Cessna 150, a wet rate, so fuel is included in the hourly figure, checked September 10, 2026. The lowest hourly rate is not automatically the lowest total: instructor rates, fuel basis, and the hours you actually fly decide that, which is what the per-school estimates on this page hold constant.

How current are these Hawaii flight school rates?

Every rate here is the school's own published figure, linked to its source and dated; the newest check in Hawaii is September 16, 2026, and each card and school page shows the exact date its rates were read. The directory is re-checked on a monthly cycle, and 7 more schools in Hawaii are listed without an estimate because they do not publish a full rate card. A school can correct or remove its listing anytime.

PilotBoundEvery hour. Every dollar.

Published rates, sourced · Updated September 16, 2026

What flight training costs at Hawaii flight schools

Every listing shows the school's own published rates with the source and date, next to an honest PilotBound estimate for your Private pilot certificate. Add any school to your plan to map your whole route on their real rates.

Across the 3 Hawaii schools here with published rates, trainer rentals run $205 to $235 per hour and instruction $55 to $135, and PilotBound's private pilot estimate lands between $20,325 and $25,385, with a median of $21,405.

Search, filter by city, and sort by cost. Each card marks where it falls among the state's schools on cost. Estimates are ours, not quotes, and we are not affiliated with these schools. See a wrong number? Every card has a correct-this-listing link.

Estimate cost toflying

CityPartSort

Showing 10 of 10 schools

Totals to reach your Private goal at this pace. Estimates use PilotBound's own completion-hours model, examiner-completion data where it exists and FAA minimums where it does not, applied to each school's published rates. They are PilotBound estimates, not the school's quote, and will differ from a school's own figures. How we estimate.

Private estimate range across Hawaii

lowest $17.5Khighest $28.9K

Lani Lea Flight School
Part not stated
Lowest in HI
Honolulu, HI·lanileaaviation.com
Published rates
$205/hr aircraft (wet)+$55/hr instructor
Checked September 10, 2026·Source
This estimate uses Lani Lea's non-member wet rates. Lani Lea adds a $5.50/hr fuel charge to all training flights, disclosed here rather than added.
PilotBound estimate · Private
$20,325
range $17.5K – $23.2K
~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.
Add to my plan Lani Lea cost breakdown →
Pacific Flight Academy
Part not stated
Largest fleet
Honolulu, HI·pacificflightacademy.com
Published rates
$220/hr aircraft (wet)+$55/hr instructor
Checked September 16, 2026·Source
Rates shown are Pacific's visitor rates. A member rate roughly $35 to $70/hr lower exists but requires enrolling in the Professional Pilot Program and proving Hawaii residency, so it is not assumed here. All rates are wet and are subject to Hawaii State sales tax, which this estimate does not include. A minimum of 0.3 hours of ground instruction is added to every flight lesson, and visiting pilots may not check out solo, so all visitor flying is dual.
PilotBound estimate · Private
$21,405
range $18.4K – $24.4K
~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.
Add to my plan Pacific Flight Academy cost breakdown →
Tropicbird Flight Service
Part not stated
Kailua-Kona, HI·tropicbirdflightservice.com
Published rates
$235/hr aircraft (fuel basis not stated)+$105/hr instructor
Checked September 8, 2026·Source
This estimate uses Tropicbird's standard published rates. It does not include the fuel surcharge that may apply per their website; a 5% discount on 10-hour block deposits is not modeled.
PilotBound estimate · Private
$25,385
range $21.8K – $28.9K
~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.
Add to my plan Tropicbird cost breakdown →
Below: schools without a full published rate card. They cannot be priced, so they sit at the end of a cost sort.
Barbers Point Flight School
Part not stated
Kapolei, HI·PHJR·hawaiiflightschool.com
Published rates
$198/hr aircraft+instructor rate not published
Checked September 13, 2026·Source·8 aircraft published
Every rate is an "all-in" wet rate with no additional charges, per the fleet page, which also lists two 2026 Tecnam P-Mentors at $234/hr as coming in April 2026. No instructor rate appears anywhere on the site, and the training-process page says the school keeps a waitlist because of aircraft availability.
No PilotBound estimate
Barbers Point does not publish an instructor rate
Nothing to total without it.
See what to ask them What they do publish →
George's Aviation Services
Part 61 & 141
Honolulu, HI·PHNL·georgesaviation.com
Published rates
aircraft rate not published+instructor rate not published
No PilotBound estimate
George's Aviation does not publish an aircraft rate and an instructor rate
Nothing to total without it.
See what to ask them What they do publish →
Maui Aviators
Part not stated
Kahului, HI·PHOG·mauiaviators.com
Published rates
aircraft rate not published+instructor rate not published
No PilotBound estimate
Maui Aviators does not publish an aircraft rate and an instructor rate
Nothing to total without it.
See what to ask them What they do publish →
Maui Flight Academy
Part not stated
Kahului, HI·PHOG·mauiflightacademy.com
Published rates
aircraft rate not published+instructor rate not published
No PilotBound estimate
Maui Flight Academy does not publish an aircraft rate and an instructor rate
Nothing to total without it.
See what to ask them What they do publish →
Mauna Loa Aero
Part not stated
Kailua-Kona and Honolulu, HI·PHKO·maunaloaaero.com
Published rates
$245/hr aircraft+instructor rate not published
Checked September 13, 2026·Source·3 aircraft published
The 172N and Arrow II rates come from the accelerated instrument course page and the Seneca II from the multi-engine page, where it is $480/hr plus a fuel surcharge and tax. Ground instruction is $58/hr on one page and $53/hr on another. The instrument budget prices "dual instruction" at $255/hr, which equals the Arrow's rate, so it may be the airplane with an instructor or the airplane alone; a flight instructor rate is never stated on its own. Typical course totals are published for the Private ($9,200), the single-engine CFI ($7,745) and the CFII ($4,170).
No PilotBound estimate
Mauna Loa Aero does not publish an instructor rate
Nothing to total without it.
See what to ask them What they do publish →
Wings Over Kauai
Part not stated
Lihue, HI·PHLI·wingsoverkauai.com
Published rates
aircraft rate not published+instructor rate not published
Checked September 5, 2026·Source
Dual flight instruction is $285 per hour and "includes aircraft and instructor time"; ground instruction is $50 per hour. No airplane-only or instructor-only rate exists, the airplane is a Cessna flown on certain days each week, and the page says only dual instruction is currently offered. The $285 is also the price of the operator's Grand Deluxe air tour, booked as an instructional flight.
No PilotBound estimate
Wings Over Kauai does not publish an aircraft rate, an instructor rate and a list of ratings taught
Nothing to total without it.
See what to ask them What they do publish →
Yuko Matsumoto Glider Instruction
Part not stated
Waialua, HI·HDH·ymhawaii.weebly.com
Published rates
aircraft rate not published+instructor rate not published
No PilotBound estimate
Yuko Matsumoto does not publish an aircraft rate and an instructor rate
Nothing to total without it.
See what to ask them What they do publish →

Flight school costs in Hawaii, in numbers

Computed from the 3 Hawaii schools that publish both an aircraft and an instructor rate, on the same method every card above uses. The 7 listings without a full rate card are left out of every figure.

$21,405: Median PilotBound Private estimate across the 3 schools with published rates
$205 to $235: Published trainer rental, per hour
$55 to $135: Published instruction, per hour
3 of 10: Schools publishing a full rate card (aircraft and instructor)

Lowest published trainer rates in Hawaii

Lani Lea Flight School · $205/hr Cessna 150, Honolulu
Pacific Flight Academy · $220/hr Cessna Skyhawk C172M, Honolulu
Tropicbird Flight Service · $235/hr Diamond DA-20 C1 Eclipse, Kailua-Kona

Part 141 flight schools in Hawaii

George's Aviation Services · Part 61 & 141, Honolulu

Flight schools by city in Hawaii

Honolulu · 3 schools, 2 with rates

Airports with more than one Hawaii flight school

Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)Lani Lea Flight School·Pacific Flight Academy
Kahului Airport (PHOG)Maui Aviators·Maui Flight Academy

How these estimates work

We apply one consistent method to every school: PilotBound's own completion-hours model, examiner-completion data where it exists (like the Private and Commercial) and FAA minimums where no credible public data exists (like the Instrument and CFI), times that school's published aircraft and instructor rates (linked on every card, with the date we verified them), plus the one-time fees most quotes leave out. Holding the hours model identical across schools means the only thing that changes card to card is the school's actual rates.

So the number is PilotBound's estimate, not the school's quote, and it will differ from a school's own cost figures, which are often based on FAA-minimum hours. The schools do not set or endorse it.

Want a number tied to your own pace and aircraft choice? Run the estimator or read the full methodology.

These estimates are ours, not the schools' quotes, and we are not affiliated with the schools. A school can correct or remove its listing anytime. Disclaimer & removal policy.

Common questions about Hawaii flight schools

How much does flight school cost in Hawaii?: Across the 3 Hawaii flight schools here that publish full rates, trainer rentals run $205 to $235 per hour and instruction $55 to $135 per hour, checked as recently as September 16, 2026. On each school's own published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate between $20,325 and $25,385, with a median of $21,405. These are PilotBound estimates built on published rates, not quotes from the schools.
What is the cheapest flight school in Hawaii?: Lani Lea Flight School in Honolulu publishes the lowest trainer rental of the 3 Hawaii schools listed here, $205 per hour for its Cessna 150, a wet rate, so fuel is included in the hourly figure, checked September 10, 2026. The lowest hourly rate is not automatically the lowest total: instructor rates, fuel basis, and the hours you actually fly decide that, which is what the per-school estimates on this page hold constant.
How current are these Hawaii flight school rates?: Every rate here is the school's own published figure, linked to its source and dated; the newest check in Hawaii is September 16, 2026, and each card and school page shows the exact date its rates were read. The directory is re-checked on a monthly cycle, and 7 more schools in Hawaii are listed without an estimate because they do not publish a full rate card. A school can correct or remove its listing anytime.