Governor says company needs to show it has exhausted all options by Amanda C. Gregg – THE GARDEN ISLAND Officials with Aloha Airlines, the 61-year-old company that filed for bankruptcy protection March 21, announced yesterday plans to shut down its
Governor says company needs to show it has exhausted all options
by Amanda C. Gregg – THE GARDEN ISLAND
Officials with Aloha Airlines, the 61-year-old company that filed for bankruptcy protection March 21, announced yesterday plans to shut down its inter-island and trans-Pacific passenger flight operations, effective today.
All flights from Hawai‘i to the West Coast and between several cities in California and Nevada have been canceled.
The company announced yesterday that today will be its last day of operation, a decision that Aloha Airlines President and Chief Executive Officer David A. Banmiller said would affect an estimated 1,900 employees statewide.
The company plans to refer passengers with interisland tickets to Hawaiian Airlines. Customers with travel plans to and from the Mainland will be asked to use code-share partner United Airlines.
Aloha also announced yesterday that its air cargo and aviation services units will continue to operate as usual while the U.S. Bankruptcy Court seeks bids from potential buyers.
In the wake of Aloha Airlines’ announcement, Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday issued a statement that she will ask the bankruptcy court not to allow Aloha Airlines to shut down until it has shown it has exhausted all possible avenues for continuing its operations.
The state also will ask the court for Aloha Airlines to be required to provide sufficient time and proper notification to employees of the shutdown, and to take additional steps to protect the interests and rights of Aloha employees.
The state also will ask the airlines to provide its financial information to the court to determine whether the shutdown is in fact necessary, Lingle said in a prepared statement.
Lingle said as a stopgap measure, she has created a Rapid Response Team to assist those who have lost their jobs at Aloha Airlines.
Banmiller said on the company’s Web site that the airlines “simply ran out of time to find a qualified buyer or secure continued financing for our passenger business,” adding, “We had no choice but to take this action.”
Banmiller also blamed unfair competition for putting Aloha Airlines in the red.
The company has floundered since Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group Inc. launched the interisland carrier called go! airlines in 2006.
Aloha Airlines filed suit against the company in October of that year, claiming it acted as a potential investor to obtain insider information it later used to drive Aloha Airlines out of business.
Several legislators and Aloha Airlines employees gathered in Honolulu Friday, rallying to keep the company up and running.
Sen. Gary Hooser, D-Kaua’i, Ni’ihau, and other elected officials gave speeches in support of the airline, along with Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann and senators Rosalyn Baker, D-Maui, and Clarence Nishihara, D-Waipahu, Crestview, Pearl City, and Rep. Joe Souki, D-Maui, and House Speaker Calvin Say, D-St. Louis Heights-Wilhelmina Rise.
Legislators have two bills on the table to help the airlines, the state’s second-largest airline, including House Bill 2860, which would exempt the general excise and use taxes on fuel sold from a foreign-trade zone to common carriers for use in interisland air transportation.
Hooser said yesterday that though he couldn’t speak for all his legislative colleagues, it is likely they will continue moving forward with the two bills.
“I don’t want to put out false hope,” he said. “But there is a legislative process it has to go through and it wouldn’t make sense pulling it back if then the situation changes again.”
• Amanda C. Gregg, assistant editor/staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or agregg@kauaipubco.com.
