Legal Snarl Clearing Up for Airlines in Hawaii

June 29th, 2008

Okay, follow closely.  This is a little complicated.

In 2005, California-based Yucaipa Co., headed by grocery store billionaire Ron Burkle and former professional football star Willie Gault, purchased Hawaii carrier Aloha Airlines and brought it out of bankruptcy.

18 months ago, Aloha Airlines sued Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group.  Mesa Air Group is the parent company of the Hawaii inter-island carrier go!.  go!, Aloha claimed, misused confidential information in order to effect its Hawaii launch with the intent to drive Aloha out of business.

Aloha went back into bankruptcy and out of business in March of this year, largely because of soaring fuel prices and the inter-island fare war initiated by go!’s entry into the market.  Aloha was the state’s second-largest airline with more than 3,500 employees.

Last week, a federal bankruptcy judge approved the sale, for ten million dollars, of Aloha’s suit against Mesa to Yucaipa.  The suit is scheduled to go to trial in October, but an attorney for Mesa said he expects the date to be pushed back.

Got that?  Okay, let’s move on.

Entry Filed under: Oahu