I was told from someone who works in Hawaii that Aloha is hurting for cash and (according to some of their Captains) that unless someone comes in with a wad of cash Aloha may cease to exist come this fall or winter? They aren't that bad off, are they? I don't know financials from the airlines but the captains say they are have cheap fares from the west coast and they still can't fill up the seats. This is not good, status quo is the way to go in Hawaii and I would hate to see people lose jobs. Aloha has a very long local history hopeful there aren't some people making money manipulating this.

While I have no inside information, others have noted problems on earlier threads including:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=449450

Given 30 year old inter-island aircraft, operating in BK (meaning no new aircraft are coming), and turning back 700's to the lessors paints a pretty bleak picture.

Personally, I'm still flying AQ as an Ali'i this year (and for that matter 11 hours from now). But I'm planning to move to HA next year regardless what happens to AQ.

Aloha,

Lihu'e 1k

Being as Aloha Air Group is a privately-held company, nobody outside the walls of that company are any aware of their financial situation unless some info is released via PR or to important persons. It would sad to see Aloha, but I do have a feeling that they are only getting worst if their interisland fleet keeps breaking down and they can't fill up their mainland flights, even with near rock-bottom fares. Nothing is looking good for them, and many people with an aviation sense pretty much know the end is near for Aloha Airlines unless a large cash infusion is injected.

Just speculating:
In the event that Aloha goes under a lot sooner than we think (I'm talking Winter 05-Spring 06), how will all Interisland traffic from them be handled? Will Hawaiian increase their schedule substantially, and if so, how will their fleet of 11 717s be affected (ie, will that be enough?)?

Comments and corrections always welcomed.
asu-ua772

well i won't fly their 732's, and so haven't given them a penny in years. and it's embarassing to say how much $ i spent with ha in comparison.

however, what will happen to the price of flying interisland should aloha go away? perhaps flyhawaii will show up at just the right moment and fill the gap. i just visited their site (http://www.flyhawaii.com/index.shtml) but didn't find anything new. it says they will start early 2006 to maui.

I have an award ticket on Aloha using United miles around Thanksgiving. Any idea what would happen if Aloha went belly up before then?

I'm actually not too worried, but certainly nervous. They just notified me that they modified their schedule and my flights are still OK.

The fact that Aloha's privately-held (as mentioned above) makes me a little more weary of Aloha than I was with Hawaiian when they were in Chapter 11. At this point, it's all speculation and a shot in the dark. Even if Aloha were to go under, how would Hawaiian increase their service? They don't have the jets to do so and I can't imagine that anyone would want to buy Aloha out.

We seem to get a little glimpse of Aloha's financials from time to time and Aloha posted a $2.5 million operating profit for the month of May...

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/ap...507160316/1071

So, perhaps Aloha's bleak outlook isn't as bleak as I once thought it to be.

hard to know. are they just blowing smoke in bk court and keeping their options open? there just aren't the signs you would expect to see from an airline looking to be a long-term player, starting with solving their aircraft problems.

Saved me from having to say it.

Lihu'e 1k

You know I read the article about AQ posting 2.5 mil in profits, but at the end it stated that they also had around 3 mil in BK attorney fees that weren't factored in to the 2.5 figure. I had to read it a couple of times but I reckon that meant bad news unfortunately for AQ.

They stopped the free Mai TAI'S ON THE T/P FLIGHTS!!!

actually the fact that aloha's equity was privately held while hawaiian's was publicly held shouldn't make a huge difference.

1) much financial information becomes publicly available anyway since it is filed with the bankruptcy court,
2) the airline may need an equity infusion to come out of bankruptcy. having existing private shareholders means one more potential source.

The problem is that the 717 is out of production; they may have a major problem securing additional airplanes. Not to mention the fact that the dynamics of inter-island service has changed drastically since I was a kid living in HNL and everybody flew into HNL from outside Hawaii and then had to fly AQ or HA onward. Today there are nonstops to Maui, Kona, and Lihue from the mainland and to Kona from Tokyo. That by itself cuts down the size of the pie. And the OP is correct, with a fleet of old 732's, Aloha's got major problems.

Technically, the 717 is still in production, but no new orders are being taken for it. Boeing will complete the orders from AirTran and Midwest, then shut down the line.

I agree with you that the dynamics of the interisland market has changed since we grew up in HNL. The nonstops from the mainland to the outer-islands can decrease a chunk of the interisland service, but as of recent, most of the interisland flights (both AQ and HA) have had astonishing load factors (Summer, perhaps), and if that trend continues into the low season, and AQ suddenly goes belly-up, some major disruptions can be seen in the islands.

I also agree with you that HA will have a hard time acquiring planes in this instance, and the only potential way I could see them filling in the gap for any AQ lost service is either 24 hour around-the-clock interisland runs with their current fleet (not very good in the long run), or a slew of wet-leases.

asu-ua772

Aq's first big hurdle will be when their credit card debt comes due in I think Oct. I think it was 65 mil at something alittle above 10% interest. Seeing as how they are losing money during the peak season it will be interesting to see who will cough up the money.