HONOLULU -- Aloha Airlines pilots' union on Friday agreed not to strike at 12 a.m. Saturday, holding off until another bankruptcy court hearing is held Monday afternoon.

The airline's lawyers on Friday also disclosed that a new company is interested in buying its cargo operation.

The pilots' union overwhelmingly authorized a strike Wednesday.

"We've turned the other cheek time and time and time and time again, and we're turning it again, yes," the attorney for the pilots' union, Jim Linsey, said.

Linsey tried to convince a bankruptcy judge today that Aloha's 40 remaining pilots in the cargo division should be allowed to strike, because the union said Aloha violated their collective bargaining agreements by firing pilots instead of furloughing them and terminating senior pilots while keeping junior pilots on the payroll.

"Aloha Airlines has simply ripped up the pilot agreement, it's fired without cause hundreds of Aloha pilots and really destroyed their opportunities for job security," Linsey said.

The airline said a strike would be illegal, because the union's disputes are not serious enough for a strike, but should be settled through arbitration. Aloha also pointed out that the union did not file any grievances.

The union said filing grievances would have been overwhelming, because there were thousands of violations.

"We would rather put our energy towards sitting down and negotiating a resolution here than working on paper work right now. We feel that the priority is sitting down and taking this airline, what's left of it, to the next step," former Aloha Airlines pilot John Riddel said.

A bankruptcy judge will continue hearing testimony and could rule either in favor of Aloha, barring a strike, or in favor of the union, forcing the new buyers of Aloha cargo to keep the pilots contract and retain the most senior pilots.

Meanwhile, Aloha says a mainland company with local investors is one of two bidders on Aloha's cargo operations. Aloha said Saltchuk Resources of Washington State, which walked out of the cargo auction this week, is still interested in bidding on the cargo operation and has not withdrawn its deposit.