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Re: Whither Aloha Airlines?
According to published reports, Mesa Air circulated emails between its consultant Mo Garfinkle and Mesa Chief Financial Officer Peter Murnane that indicated that the only way go! could survive in Hawai'i is if Aloha Airlines was taken out of the picture.
Murnane countered:
What's interesting is that all of this new information surfaced during a Federal bankruptcy court hearing for Hawaiian Airlines.
Mesa at one point had approached Aloha with a $25 million investment deal, but Aloha declined the offer.
Hawaiian is seeking a preliminary injunction that would prevent go! from selling tickets in Hawai'i for one year, claiming that Mesa used proprietary information from Hawaiian in order to build its business case.
Aloha Airlines, for its part, issued the following statement:
Miulang
According to published reports, Mesa Air circulated emails between its consultant Mo Garfinkle and Mesa Chief Financial Officer Peter Murnane that indicated that the only way go! could survive in Hawai'i is if Aloha Airlines was taken out of the picture.
Garfinkle, a former consultant for the parent company of Hawaiian Airlines, wrote in an e-mail to Murnane that the Hawaii project did not make any sense if Aloha was still in the picture, according to Bennett. Murnane's response was that rather than wait for Aloha to die, Mesa should establish a presence in Hawaii so no one else could move in, putting Mesa in position to give Aloha "the last push," Bennett said.
Bennett also said a document prepared by Mesa for potential go! investors showed that the carrier, which has built its reputation on its low fares, intended to raise prices once Aloha was out of the way.
Bennett also said a document prepared by Mesa for potential go! investors showed that the carrier, which has built its reputation on its low fares, intended to raise prices once Aloha was out of the way.
"(Eliminating Aloha) was not part of our business plan," Murnane said. "We went to great pains to make sure our business model made sense with all three carriers in the market. We didn't want to go into Hawaii with the assumption that the only way this would work would be if we pushed Aloha over the edge."
As for raising prices, Murnane said the airline's projections were based on all three carriers competing in the market at current fare levels in 2006 and 2007. Murnane said, Mesa projected that in 2008 Hawaiian and Aloha would reduce interisland seat capacity, and go! would raise fares to below where they were before go!'s arrival.
As for raising prices, Murnane said the airline's projections were based on all three carriers competing in the market at current fare levels in 2006 and 2007. Murnane said, Mesa projected that in 2008 Hawaiian and Aloha would reduce interisland seat capacity, and go! would raise fares to below where they were before go!'s arrival.
Mesa at one point had approached Aloha with a $25 million investment deal, but Aloha declined the offer.
Hawaiian is seeking a preliminary injunction that would prevent go! from selling tickets in Hawai'i for one year, claiming that Mesa used proprietary information from Hawaiian in order to build its business case.
Aloha Airlines, for its part, issued the following statement:
"We are extremely disappointed with the disclosure in court that one of our colleagues in the airline industry appears to have been unethical in dealing with Hawaii's interisland market, and has been trying to put us out of business for its own gain," the company said in the statement. "In this industry, we expect that airlines will compete fairly on a level playing field, and it seems now that a new entrant is trying to unlevel that field.
"This is an affront to the more than 3,500 employees of Aloha Airlines, who have sacrificed so much to continue Aloha's legacy of providing high-quality air transportation for Hawaii's people.
"This is an affront to the more than 3,500 employees of Aloha Airlines, who have sacrificed so much to continue Aloha's legacy of providing high-quality air transportation for Hawaii's people.
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