Originally Posted by
cuyp
There was long ago another factor in the Hawaiian-Aloha competition that people don't like to talk about, but was relevant to the 50s and 60s. Aloha was founded by a Chinese group, and many local Asians preferred Aloha because they received condescending service from Hawaiian which was haole-owned. It's not just a Ford and GM thing: for neighbor-island Chinese like my parents and grandparents, it was a way of escaping petty racism. This was really glossed over in the news about Aloha's demise, and of course it vanished by the 70s. But it was not all sweetness and light in HI. I myself preferred Hawaiian once they got the new 717s since AQ (TS) ran those scary 732s.
When AQ shut down, there was a lot of talk about the beginnings of Aloha and there was mention of why the airline was started, how it was called the "People's Airline," and how it catered to the local Asian population. So I don't think it wasn't all too hidden when AQ started.
That's another reason, I M H O, that makes AQ's demise even more somber for a lot of local folks. While it's true that AQ's own management was a factor in the fall of the airline, the fact that a "haole"-owned airline from the Mainland that couldn't learn to play Hawaii-style came in and knocked AQ to the ground was a serious insult, given AQ's history as being an airline to rise up against the alleged haole prejudices.