Propeller era The airline was founded as charter carrier
Trans-Pacific Airlines by publisher
Ruddy F. Tongg Sr. as a competitor to
Hawaiian Airlines, commencing operations on July 26, 1946, with a war-surplus
Douglas C-47 (
DC-3) on a flight from Honolulu to
Maui and
Hilo. Tongg and partners founded the airline after being bumped from flights on the only inter-island carrier, Hawaiian Airlines. In 1952, the airline reported its first annual profit, approximately $36,000. In 1950, the airline adopted the name
TPA-The Aloha Airline. To compete, Hawaiian Airlines began using the
Convair 340. In 1958, real estate developer Hung Wo Ching became CEO of the airline and changed the name to
Aloha Airlines. The October 1, 1964, cover of the airline's system timetable proclaimed "''Hawaii's Only All Jet Power
Service
Between The Islands''" as Aloha was operating all of its inter-island flights at this time with the Fairchild F-27 and Vickers Viscount turboprops. Soon, the airline made the move to pure jets, with its first new
British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven twin jet arriving in Honolulu on April 16, 1966. The last F-27 was retired from service in June 1967. As
Hawaiian Airlines took delivery of larger
Douglas DC-9-30 jets, Aloha realized its smaller BAC One-Eleven series 200 aircraft, which also suffered from performance penalties at
Kona International Airport (which had a shorter runway at the time), put it at a disadvantage. Aloha placed an order for two
Boeing 737-200 jetliners in 1968. Named "Funbirds," the Boeing jets entered service in March 1969. The massive capacity increase hurt both airlines, and in 1970, the first of three unsuccessful merger attempts between the two rivals (the others coming in 1988 and 2001) was made. In October 1971, the airline sold its remaining Viscount 745 turboprop aircraft and became an all-jet airline. In 1983, Aloha introduced its AlohaPass frequent flyer program. In 1984, the airline leased a
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30, and on May 28, inaugurated service with the aircraft between Honolulu,
Guam, and
Taipei under the name
Aloha Pacific. The operation, however, was unable to compete with
Continental Airlines, and was discontinued on January 12, 1985. In October 1985, Aloha acquired Quick-Change 737 aircraft that could be quickly converted from a passenger configuration to all-cargo freighter for nighttime cargo flights. In February 1986, Aloha began weekly flights between Honolulu and
Kiritimati (Christmas Island), becoming the first airline to operate
ETOPS approved Boeing 737-200s. In late 1986, Ching and vice-chairman Sheridan Ing announced plans to take the company private after surviving hostile takeover bids, and it remained in the hands of the Ing and Ching families until its emergence from bankruptcy in 2006, when additional investors including
Yucaipa Companies, Aloha Aviation Investment Group, and Aloha Hawaii Investors LLC took stakes in the airline. In 1987, the airline acquired Princeville Airways, renaming Aloha IslandAir, which became known as
Island Air in 1995. In 2003, Island Air was sold to Gavarnie Holding and became an independent airline. On February 14, 2000, the airline began mainland service, flying newly delivered
ETOPS certified
Boeing 737-700 jetliners from
Honolulu,
Kahului, and
Kona, Hawaii, to
Oakland. The carrier soon started regularly scheduled flights to and from
Orange County,
San Diego,
Sacramento,
Reno, and
Las Vegas. Aloha also offered flights from
Honolulu to
Vancouver. In addition, the airline served the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport (BUR, now known as
Bob Hope Airport) in the Los Angeles area with nonstop
Boeing 737-700 service to and from Honolulu. Aloha Airline's longest inter-island route was , while the shortest route was a mere . The average travel distance per inter-island flight was . From late-1989 through mid-2006, Aloha marketed some inter-island routes served by partner
Island Air, and passengers earned miles in either its own
frequent flyer program, AlohaPass, or in
United Airlines'
Mileage Plus program.
Economic challenges Rising costs and
economic stagnation in Japan put Aloha into a defensive position in the early 2000s, exacerbated by the
September 11 attacks, the
SARS panic of 2003, and soaring fuel prices. On December 30, 2004, Aloha Airlines filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Led by Marc Bilbao and six other Giuliani advisors in December 2004,
Giuliani Partners through Giuliani Capital sold Aloha to
Ronald Burkle's group of investors and also obtained a $65 million loan for the carrier. In November 2005, Giuliani renegotiated with Aloha Chief David Banmiller for Giuliani's total compensation to be increased to $2.9 million. Ten days later, on March 30, 2008, Aloha Airlines announced the suspension of all scheduled passenger flights, with the final day of operation to be March 31, 2008. The shutdown resulted in the layoffs of about 1,900 of the company's roughly 3,500 employees.
Governor of Hawaii Linda Lingle asked the bankruptcy court involved to delay the shutdown of Aloha Airlines passenger services, and forcibly restore passenger service; however, federal Bankruptcy Judge Lloyd King declined, saying the court should not interfere with business decisions. After the shutdown of passenger operations, Aloha and its creditors represented by Fieldstone Aviation LLC sought to auction its profitable cargo and contract services division. Fieldstone arranged for Pacific Air Cargo to acquire the contract services ground handling division in 2008 for $2.2 million and it now operates it under the name Aloha Contract Services. Fieldstone Aviation LLC represented Aloha in the sale of the Aloha cargo division and solicited interest from potential buyers. Several companies expressed interest in purchasing Aloha's cargo division, including
Seattle-based Saltchuk Resources, California-based Castle & Cooke Aviation, and Hawaii-based Kahala Capital (which included Richard Ing, a minority investor in the Aloha Air Group and member of Aloha's board of directors). However, a disagreement between cargo division bidders and Aloha's primary lender, GMAC Commercial Finance, ended with the bidders dropping out of the auction. Almost immediately afterwards, GMAC halted all funding to Aloha's cargo division, forcing all cargo operations to cease; at the same time, Aloha's board of directors decided to convert its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization filing into a
Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation. The sale arranged by Fieldstone Aviation LLC was approved by federal Bankruptcy Judge Lloyd King on May 12, 2008, with the sale expected to close two days later. Prior to its bid for Aloha, Saltchuk Resources was already present in Hawaii through its subsidiaries Young Brothers/Hawaiian Tug & Barge, Hawaii Fuel Network, Maui Petroleum and Minit Stop Stores. The company also owns
Northern Air Cargo,
Alaska's largest cargo airline. A new subsidiary,
Aeko Kula Inc., was set up by Saltchuk to operate
Aloha Air Cargo.
Name and intellectual property In January 2011, Los Angeles-based Yucaipa Companies, the former majority shareholder of Aloha, won federal Bankruptcy Court approval to buy the Aloha name and other intellectual property for $1.5 million with a stipulation that it not resell the name to
Mesa Air Group, the parent of
go! Mokulele. In 2009, Mesa sought to re-brand its go! planes as Aloha. But federal Bankruptcy Judge Lloyd King stopped the name change, following impassioned pleas from former Aloha Airlines employees who largely blamed Mesa for Aloha's demise. ==Destinations==