Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Friendliest aviation Ccmmunity on the web
  • Modern site for PC's, Phones, Tablets - no 3rd party apps required
  • Ask questions, help others, promote aviation
  • Share the passion for aviation
  • Invite everyone to Flightinfo.com and let's have fun

Hawaiian & Aloha merging

Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Modern secure site, no 3rd party apps required
  • Invite your friends
  • Share the passion of aviation
  • Friendliest aviation community on the web

HAL

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 26, 2001
Posts
733
Hawaiian and Aloha's management are holding a press conference this afternoon to announce some sort of merger deal.

Mr. George Brenneman (sp?) is to be the new COO. He used to work for Bethune at Continental.

How does this affect us as pilots? I don't have a freakin' clue. The two pilot groups (HAL & ALO) don't get along very well, as there is still bad blood from a few years ago when HAL was floundering and ALO pilots essentially said 'eat s*** and die'.

If it does work out though, should be a pretty strong carrier.

Gonna be a few stormy months in paradise! :)

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2001/Dec/19/bz/bz01a.html
 
It's official. It's pretty much a straight merger, with Brennemans company holding about 10%, HAL stockholders 52%, and ALO the rest. Headquarters in Honolulu.

There's probably going to be a lot of friction getting around the anti-trust laws, but it may work.

Good thing is, I'll soon be working for a major! :) Should be 10th largest in US with about $1B in sales.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/011219/190306_1.html
 
Does this mean that Island Air pliots will now be able to bid mainline eqiupment? If so I am moving....HNL here I come!
 
Nope, Island Air pilots are gonna remain on a separate seniority list. We're still gonna be flying our Dash 8's to our regular destinations. There some uncertainty about keeping our Big Island routes, but we'll see...

All in all, no flow-through right now, and no seniority merge for us.

Gotta love Island Air... we just exist and go with the flow, and stay out of troubles. :)
 
How do you folks suppose this will affect those of us with strong aspirations to fly in the islands? Think it will delay resumption of hiring? Hope you get called back soon, Jim.
 
I wonder if Island Air will get scoped to death again with Hawaiian like it was with Aloha.

Some routes, say between OGG and ITO and KOA are just not traditionally profitable for a jet, yet we couldn't serve it direct once Aloha pulled out due to scope clause in their contract. We have to make a stop in LNY or MKK.

Hope the new scope more like limits the amount of direct flights between main 5 airports done by Island Air rather than completely prohibit it like it was the case.

Let's not be our own worst enemy.
 
Not much else to add Jim - I was at the meeting in HNL, but since I flew a trip out that night wasn't able to comment on the meeting until now.

You summed it up great, and I do think the 'merger' is that in name only. Out of the $130 million in cash in the combined companies, $130 million comes from Hawaiian and our ownership group. Aloha also has a lot of captains junior to a lot of our FO's, and I don't think they'll be stepping right into the left seat of our widebodies. There'll be fences around bases, positions, and such, and quite possibly a lot of the AQ guys on the bottom of the new list. As I heard one guy say, 'you reap what you sow', and HAL's people have been working hard for years to make us profitable. AQ's pilots were paid more, worked less, and ran the company to within a few months of bankruptcy. I don't think they'll be coming over on a straight date-of-hire seniority merger.

Brenneman was also talking about only cutting 10% of the interisland flying, which would equal about 5% of our total trips. If we furloughed 5% of the total pilots, that is only 35 - 40. With luck, most of our guys would be back at work by this spring.

But as Brenneman also said, that part is entirely up to the unions. From a business standpoint, I think the merger is a pretty good idea. And if he can turn us around like he did CAL, It'll be a great place to work. I do have to say that Brenneman was VERY impressive. Smart, savvy, and very knowlegable about airlines. Quite a change from most of HAL's previous owners.

And Freight Dog - our current HAL contract prevents 'express' carriers using the Hawaiian name. But there will be an entirely new contract, so I don't have an idea where you guys will end up. Hopefully as happy as we hope to be in a few months.

HAL
 
Not much else to add Jim - I was at the meeting in HNL, but since I flew a trip out that night wasn't able to comment on the meeting until now.

You summed it up great, and I do think the 'merger' is that in name only. Out of the $130 million in cash in the combined companies, $130 million comes from Hawaiian and our ownership group. Aloha also has a lot of captains junior to a lot of our FO's, and I don't think they'll be stepping right into the left seat of our widebodies. There'll be fences around bases, positions, and such, and quite possibly a lot of the AQ guys on the bottom of the new list. As I heard one guy say, 'you reap what you sow', and HAL's people have been working hard for years to make us profitable. AQ's pilots were paid more, worked less, and ran the company to within a few months of bankruptcy. I don't think they'll be coming over on a straight date-of-hire seniority merger.

Brenneman was also talking about only cutting 10% of the interisland flying, which would equal about 5% of our total trips. If we furloughed 5% of the total pilots, that is only 35 - 40. With luck, most of our guys would be back at work by this spring.

But as Brenneman also said, that part is entirely up to the unions. From a business standpoint, I think the merger is a pretty good idea. And if he can turn us around like he did CAL, It'll be a great place to work. I do have to say that Brenneman was VERY impressive. Smart, savvy, and very knowlegable about airlines. Quite a change from most of HAL's previous owners.

And Freight Dog - our current HAL contract prevents 'express' carriers using the Hawaiian name. But there will be an entirely new contract, so I don't have an idea where you guys will end up. Hopefully as happy as we hope to be in a few months.

HAL

Looks like it finally went down, just took a bit longer to consumate....
 

Latest resources

Back
Top