A dispute with the Federal Aviation Administration over flight schedules has prompted Molokai Air Shuttle to shut down its service to the Friendly Isle after this weekend.

Rather than operating under a fixed schedule, the airline had been transporting 100 to 500 people each day with its nine-seat Piper Chieftain when called or needed.

But FAA regulations require that airlines traveling more than five times a week at a certain time print a schedule, said Hank Younge, who started the now defunct Air Molokai in August 1967 and whose son, Henry, owns the 15-year-old Molokai Air Shuttle.

"We needed flexibility to serve Moloka'i because we're getting wedding groups, funerals, birthday parties, lu'aus and sometimes huge groups like baseball teams and canoers," said Hank Younge.

The airline's decision cuts most of the air service to the Hansen's disease settlement of Kalaupapa. Only Pacific Wings flies — on a limited basis — between Hono-lulu and the remote peninsula, which is now a national historic park, administered by the National Park Service.

Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said the announced shutdown also causes concern because Molokai Air Shuttle provided service for the National Park Service and the state Department of Health.