[§261E-6]  General powers and duties.  The air carrier commission shall have general supervision over all Hawaii air carriers providing air transportation and, to the extent determined by the commission to be necessary to effectuate the purposes of this chapter, over any related company, and shall perform the duties and exercise the powers imposed or conferred upon it by this chapter.  The general powers of the commission shall include:

     (1)  Regulating Hawaii air carriers by using, in addition to its other powers, the investigative powers set forth in section 261E-7;

     (2)  Establishing reasonable classifications of Hawaii air carriers based upon the nature of the services provided by the carriers and adopting rules pursuant to chapter 91 to regulate those classes of Hawaii air carriers; and

     (3)  Exempting from this chapter, in whole or in part, when determined to be in the public interest, any Hawaii air carrier engaging in air transportation solely with aircraft with a maximum seating capacity of not more than seventeen passengers or maximum cargo capacity of not more than three thousand pounds. [L Sp 2008, c 1, pt of §2]