Aloha airlines

The period of piston and turboprop aircraft

Trans-Pacific Airlines was founded on July 26, 1946 by businessman Rudy Tong as a charter carrier and the main competitor of another Hawaiian Airlines company ^[2] . The first flights were carried out between the cities of Honolulu , Maui and Hilo on the only Douglas C-47 (DC-3) aircraft from the Second World War . The original name of the airline indicates the ambitious plans of its founder to cover the route network of transportation throughout the Pacific region, including Hawaii , California and China . By the end of 1946, the airline received the unofficial nickname “The Aloha Airlines” (“Favorite Airline”) and had by that time four aircraft in its fleet. On February 21, 1949, US President Harry Truman signed an official permit to open regular flights for Trans-Pacific Airlines ; the first regular passenger flight was operated on June 6, 1949 between Honolulu and Hilo airports.

In 1952, for the first time, the airline achieved a profit of $ 36,410.12 by the end of the fiscal year. At the same time, the value of the company's shares on the stock exchange increased by 30% over the reporting year, compared with a 10% growth in 1950. In 1952, the airline changed its official name to TPA-The Aloha Airline . However, over the next five years, the airline’s further financial growth almost stopped due to the fact that its main competitor, Hawaiian Airlines , commissioned modern Convair 340 aircraft and actually intercepted the vast majority of the airline’s market in the region. In 1958, a businessman specializing in real estate transactions, Hung Wo Ching, whose family at that time owned a significant share of the carrier’s shares, was elected president of the airline. In November of the same year, the company changed its name for Aloha Airlines for the last and last time, and on April 15, 1959 the airline's fleet was replenished with modern Fairchild F-27 turboprop airliners with a reinforced keel and thicker fuselage skin compared to other aircraft of the same series ( the company's management expressed some concerns about the safety of operation of high-altitude airliners on the runways of unpaved airports). In the summer of 1959, the share of Aloha Airlines traffic in the regional market soared to 42 percent.

The Era of Jet Aviation

On January 3, 1961, Aloha Airlines decommissioned the last Douglas DC-3 piston aircraft, becoming the second United States airline to switch completely to commercial turbine airliners. Two years later, the company acquires two Vickers Viscount turboprops from Austrian Airlines , and then a third aircraft of the same model. On April 16, 1966, the Aloha Airlines fleet received its first jet BAC 1-11 , and in June 1967 the last Fairchild F-27s were decommissioned. While Aloha Airlines mastered the small jet BAC 1-11, the competing company Hawaiian Airlines introduced the more capacious Douglas DC-9-30 in the main direction of Honolulu-Hilo, thereby seriously undermining the passenger turnover of its competitor on this route. For several months, the airline’s management was eyeing the acquisition of larger airliners compared to the BAC 1-11, eventually signing a contract for the supply of two new Boeing 737-200 passenger aircraft in December 1967. The first passenger B-737 was introduced on routes March 2, 1969 and had the unofficial name "Funbirds". A sharp increase in the passenger capacity of aircraft operated by both airlines severely hit the economies of two competitors, and already in the next 1970 the first of three unsuccessful attempts to unite both carriers took place (the following attempts were made in 1988 and 2001). In October 1971, Aloha Airlines sold Vickers Viscounts turboprop aircraft, completely transferring its fleet to jet liners.

In 1983, Aloha Airlines announced its own AlohaPass frequent flyer program. In 1984, the airline leased the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 wide-body airliner, and on May 28 opened regular flights between Honolulu, Guam and Taipei , which were operated under the Aloha Pacific commercial brand and were soon unprofitable due to intense competition in these areas with another United States main airline Continental Airlines . On January 12, 1985, regular flights from Honolulu to Guam and Taipei were excluded from the carrier’s route network. In October 1985, Aloha Airlines acquired the Boeing 737 in a special “Quick-Change” configuration, which allowed for a short time to convert the layout of the aircraft from passenger to cargo and vice versa, while the passenger configuration was used on daytime flights, and at night the same liner performed cargo charter flights. In February 1986, the airline opened regular weekly routes between Honolulu and Kiritimati (Christmas Island), becoming the first US airline to use Boeing 737 aircraft in accordance with the ETOPS standard.

At the end of 1986, company president Hung Wo-Ching and vice president Sheridan Ing announced management intentions to take Aloha Airlines out of private ownership and carry out its corporatization process to attract additional funds from investors and to remove the company from bankruptcy. The following year, the airline took over the local carrier Princeville Airways , first renaming it Aloha IslandAir , and in 1995 - Island Air . In 2003, a subsidiary of Island Air was sold to the financial group Gavarnie Holding, reorganizing into an independent airline.

On February 14, 2000, Aloha Airlines introduced regular transcontinental flights on Boeing 737-700 aircraft from Honolulu, Kahului , Kona (Hawaiian Islands) to Auckland (California) and somewhat later from Honolulu to Orange County , San Diego , Reno and Las Vegas . For a short time, the company used the regular Honolulu - Vancouver route.

The longest flight between the airports of the Hawaiian Islands was 350 kilometers, the shortest - 100 km, the average length of routes on the islands was 215 km. Aloha Airlines, together with its subsidiary Island Air, used a partnership agreement with United Airlines, a major airline company, for the mutual recognition of accrued bonus miles on AlohaPass and Mileage Plus frequent flyer incentives ^{[3] [4] [5]} .

The first half of the 2000s became for Aloha Airlines a strip of continuous setbacks. The economic stagnation in Japan , the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 , the panic due to the 2003 SARS epidemic, and a significant increase in fuel prices led the airline to a severe financial crisis. On December 30, 2004, Aloha Airlines declared itself bankrupt, taking advantage of the provisions of Chapter 11 of the United States Commercial Bankruptcy Code. After renegotiating employment contracts with airline employees, receiving additional investments from financial investors and optimizing income and expenses, Aloha Airlines managed to get out of bankruptcy on February 17, 2006, and on August 30, 2006, Boeing's top manager Gordon Bethune was appointed Chairman of the board of directors of the airline.

The further state of affairs at the airline has hardly changed: while maintaining high fuel prices, the company got involved in a protracted tariff war with the regional carrier go! , a subsidiary of Mesa Airlines , which led to the re-declaration of bankruptcy on March 20, 2008 ^[6] . Ten days later, Aloha Airlines announced the termination of all scheduled flights with an end date for servicing passenger operations on March 31, 2008 ^[7] , followed by the dismissal of 1900 employees with a staff of 3,500 ^[8] . The Hawaiian Governor Linda Lingle petitioned for state support for the carrier and the restoration of passenger flights between state airports ^[9] , but the federal judge Lloyd King , who considered the case, rejected the governor's petition, reasoning that the court should not interfere with the decisions of commercial companies ^[10] .

After the cessation of passenger traffic, airline lenders tried to sell its subsidiaries in parts. The highest price was offered for the Pacific Air Cargo division, a number of investment companies expressed their willingness to purchase a freight carrier, including Saltchuk Resources holdings from Seattle , Castle & Cooke Aviation from California and Hawaiian corporation Kahala Capital , which was owned by a minority shareholder and Richard Ing, member of the board of directors of Aloha Airlines ^[11] . In the process of considering bids for auctions, fatal disagreements arose between bidders for the purchase of an air carrier and its main creditor financial group GMAC Commercial Finance , as a result of which bidders immediately withdrawn their bids ^[12] . Almost immediately after the bidding disruption, GMAC stopped all operations of the cargo division and set it on the path to complete liquidation by changing the bankruptcy petition from the terms of Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code (protection against creditors with further reorganization of activities) to Chapter 7 of the Code, which provides for complete bankruptcy commercial organization ^[12] .

On May 12, 2008, at the insistence of US Senator Daniel Inoue , Saltchuk Resources investment group renews its bid for the acquisition of the Aloha Airlines cargo division for a total of $ 10.5 million ^[13] . The deal was approved the same day by federal judge Lloyd King and took place on May 14 of the same year ^[14] .

Prior to the acquisition of the Aloha Airlines cargo subsidiary, Saltchuk Resources already had a presence in Hawaii through subsidiaries Young Brothers / Hawaiian Tug & Barge, Hawaii Fuel Network, Maui Petroleum and Minit Stop Stores. In addition, the investment group owns the largest airline in Alaska, Northern Air Cargo . The acquired carrier is currently operating under the brand name Aloha Air Cargo .

At the time of termination of passenger traffic on March 31, 2008, the route network of Aloha Airlines included the following destinations:

  USA

California

• Burbank - Bob Hope Airport
• Auckland - Auckland International Airport
• Sacramento - Sacramento International Airport
• San Diego - San Diego International Airport
• Santa Ana - John Wayne Airport is the main destination

Hawaii

• Hilo - Hilo International Airport
• Honolulu - Honolulu International Airport Hub
• Kahului - Kahului Airport main destination
• Kona - Kona International Airport
• Lihue - Lihue Airport

Nevada

• Las Vegas - McCarran International Airport
• Reno - Reno / Tahoe International Airport

Discontinued Routes

  American Samoa

• Pago Pago - Pago Pago International Airport , twice a week

  Canada

• Vancouver - Vancouver International Airport

  Cook Islands

• Rarotonga - Rarotonga International Airport

  Kiribati

• Kiritimati - Cassidy International Airport , a weekly flight usually operated on Saturdays

  Marshall Islands

• Kwajalein - Kwajalein Military Airfield , twice a week
• Majuro - Marshall Islands International Airport , twice a week

Midway Atoll

• Midway - Henderson Field Airport , scheduled charter flights, usually on Tuesdays

As of March 31, 2008, the following aircraft comprised the Aloha Airlines air fleet:

In March 2008, the average age of the airline's aircraft was 18.2 years ^[16] .

Aloha Airlines worked in the framework of partnership agreements ( code-sharing ) with two airlines:

• Island Air ^[17]
• United Airlines ^[18]

• June 27, 1969, Honolulu International Airport . The Vickers Viscount aircraft (registration number N7410) collided on the platform with the Douglas DC-9-31 airliner of Hawaiian Airlines and was subsequently decommissioned ^[19] .
• August 8, 1971, Honolulu International Airport, Vickers Viscount aircraft (registration number N7415). After landing at the airport, a fire broke out aboard the liner. No injuries were reported; the plane was subsequently decommissioned ^[20] .
• April 28, 1988, Flight 243 Hilo International Airport - Honolulu International Airport. During a regular flight from Hilo to Honolulu, the Boeing 737-297 aircraft (registration number N73711) underwent explosive decompression, lost part of the fuselage and made an emergency landing at Kahului Airport . The flight attendant Clarabell Lansing died, another 65 passengers and crew members received injuries of varying severity. The commission investigating the incident identified fatigue cracks in the metal as its main reason. The relatively safe landing of a plane of this class with such serious injuries is still an unprecedented case in the history of commercial aviation.

• Young, Branden . Aloha Airlines: Ready to Protect Their Beachfront in Paradise, Airliners: The World's Aviation Magazine , Airliners Publications (July/August 2006), С. 35–39.
• Forman, Peter. Wings of Paradise: Hawaii's Incomparable Airlines. — Kailua, HI : Barnstormer Books, 2005. — ISBN 978-0-9701594-4-1 .

• Aloha Airlines (Archive)
• Aloha Airlines — Alohaair.com (Archive)
• Aloha Airlines Cargo
• Spirit of Aloha (inflight magazine)
• Planespotters.net: Aloha Airlines Fleet Detail
• Aloha Airlines to stop flying Monday; CEO calls it 'an incredibly dark day'
• Aloha Air calls it quits after bankruptcy (недоступная ссылка) (недоступная ссылка с 10-08-2013 [2247 дней] — история , копия ) (недоступная ссылка)
• Aloha Airlines Ending Passenger Flights KITV-TV
• Aloha Airlines cuts Pacific trips en:Honolulu Star-BulletinHonolulu Star-Bulletin
• Yucaipa outbids Hawaiian for Aloha Honolulu Star-Bulletin