HONOLULU -- After nearly 40 years of flying to the Friendly Isle, Molokai Air Shuttle shut down its service on Sunday.

The end of the commuter airline is not only considered a loss for its employees, but also the Molokai community.

The last Air Molokai shuttles carried passengers between Molokai and Oahu. For decades the little shuttle service has operated as an air tour company.

Now, the Federal Aviation Administration is cracking down, because it is more of a commuter airline than a tour company.

Other bigger carriers have also been waging a price war of sorts.

Inside the small terminal, many of the employees, who are from Molokai, know the customers like family.

"They call us crying, saying they're gong to miss flying with us. Some passengers call us and tell us that they're not going to go to Molokai any more because they only want to travel with us," Air Molokai employee Maile Custodio said.

"It's a sad day because Molokai Air Shuttle has been here for a long, long time," said Richard Seitz, whose son commutes from Molokai.

Rayelani Boots is like many of the airline's regular commuters. She works at a hotel on Oahu, but flew home to be with her family on the weekend.

"There's a lot of families that come to Oahu to work and go home on the weekend to be with their families just to make ends meet. We live on Molokai, come here to work, and now it's harder to go back and forth," Boots said.

The service has been more like grabbing a bus or a taxi than checking in at a bigger airline, with no long lines and no regulations from the Transportation Safety Administration.

"We come back for doctor's visits, come back for business appointments and we fly Molokai shuttle all the time," Molokai resident Christy Sambueno said. "We're going to really miss it."

Molokai Air Shuttle's exit from the marketplace now leaves Island Air and Pacific Wings as the only airlines providing service to Molokai. Those airlines are booked through Memorial Day.