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Aloha Airlines to end passenger service Monday
Grant's post about Aloha Airlines filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy wasn't exactly the sound of a death knell, but since then, the airline has decided to call it quits on passenger service. After Monday, as in March 31, according to this AP article, there will be no more passenger reservations taken.
Those who have Aloha Airlines tickets already may be rerouted on United Airlines flights to the mainland or on Hawaiian Airlines if travel is between the islands. Those who don't want those options, but who want their money back instead, can file in bankruptcy court. I don't envy people who are left to sort out their travel plans on such short notice. Hopefully, they saw this coming. The Aloha Airlines Web site does have links to help passengers rebook.
The demise of the airline that has been around since 1946 is due to unfair competition and rising fuel costs the airline's money folks say. I feel bad that Aloha Airlines hasn't been able to continue. The first time I went to Hawaii, I flew Aloha Airlines from Oahu to The Big Island on a package deal. It was much cheaper than I had imagined it would be. The rental car and two nights in a hotel was included. The best thing about arranging for the trip was that we were able to set it up after we were already visiting my relatives on Oahu. For people who travel within Hawaii, I bet they are bummed.
The shipping function of Aloha Airlines is being taken over by a Seattle-based company. Maybe people could package themselves up as a way to get off the island with their unused tickets? In case you're one of the one affected, here's a link with questions and answers.
Filed under: Business, North America, United States, Airlines, News
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Slappy Mar 31st 2008 12:54AM
"The demise of the airline that has been around since 1946 is due to unfair competition and rising fuel costs the airline's money folks say."
If there is unfair competition, why haven't they filed a complaint with the FAA, FTC, or whomever holds regulatory authority?
john Mar 31st 2008 12:41PM
I feel bad for Aloha but I'm not sure what made the competition unfair. go! entered the market and pretty much priced under cost with the strategy of forcing either Hawaiian or Aloha out of business before the money ran out. It's aggressive but I'm not sure what's unfair about it. My only guess is that Aloha thinks Mesa, go!'s parent, was helped too much by its bankruptcy proceedings a few years back.
What I'm curious about is how this will affect the Hawaii-mainland market. go! only flies inter-island and the loss of Aloha will initially cut a lot of capacity to the mainland. I guess there's a lot of time until high season for remaining airlines to add capacity.
beatofhawaii.com Mar 31st 2008 4:54PM
What forced AQ into final bankruptcy wasn't competition, it was years of poor decisions. These included failure of the prior owners to modernize its inter-island fleet, expand its trans-pacific fleet beyond a handful of 737-700's, and obtain more lucrative mainland and international routes. These choices, which had been ruining their business over a period of years, were only exacerbated by competition and fuel costs.
kdraks Mar 31st 2008 1:35PM
Well this still sucks for those of us caught holding Aloha tix. I am hoping either United honors the tix or I can stick it to my CC company as a dispute! So far United is only honoring tix up to April 1. They said to call back in a few days. I do agree that Aloha just sat there and let it happen - they really should have been more aggressive at boosting mainland to Island travel.
Mr. Aloha Mar 31st 2008 9:30PM
Aloha and Hawaiian airlines opened their internal books that contained vital and strategic information about each other to Mesa Airliens as a potential buyer when they were both in Bankruptcy in 2005 ish.
Mesa , Parent of GO! came in to the state with cutthroat prices to force one of them out.
Hawaiian sued and WON 90 million dollar judgement against Mesa/GO!
Mesa was supposed to wait 2 years AFTER viewig the books to compete.
This is why they lost.
Aloha had also filed suit, but as lawsuits go its still pending.
This is the illegal activity or tactics that Hawaiian and Aloha sued GO!MESA about.
Mesa is the same airline where the pilots fell asleep and flew past the island for either 15 mins or 15 miles past the big island.
Google Jonathon Ornstein Mesa hawaiian lawsuit as key words for proof
Rhegan Apr 2nd 2008 11:40PM
The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau is working closely with the Governor’s office, Hawaii Tourism Authority, local and national airlines, hotels, and the tourism industry at large to provide consumers a central web resource for visitor/travel information related to the Aloha Airlines shut down at:
http://www.gohawaii.com/alohaairlines
Affected travelers are encouraged to visit the website, which will be updated continuously as new information becomes available.