HONOLULU -- A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Tuesday issued a ruling that orders Mesa Air Group to pay Hawaiian Airlines more than $80 million.

The judge found that Mesa misused confidential information that he said was intentionally deleted from the company's executive vice president's laptop after he was told to preserve it for the lawsuit.

Judge Robert Faris said that Mesa retained evaluation material from Hawaiian Airlines and did not return or destroy it as part of a confidentiality agreement. He said Mesa also used the information to enter the interisland air travel market

"Mesa used any evaluation material it received from HA when Mesa decided to enter the market for Hawaii interisland air transportation services," Faris said in his written ruling. (Read ruling)

The judge said that Mesa would have to pay $80 million plus the cost of litigation.

"Mesa pretends that they are in Hawaii to help the consumer. As the evidence in this trial showed, the reality is that Mesa's intent was to drive local competition out of business and raise fares," Hawaiian President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Dunkerley said.

Hawaiian Air initially asked for $173 million.

The judge did not stop Mesa from selling tickets for its go! Airlines.

Mesa officials said they will not comment about the ruling until Wednesday.