HONOLULU -- Hawaiian Airlines Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Friday at 8 a.m.
The embattled company had recently reached new contract agreements with its employees to lower costs to help balance its finances. The move was expected to cut millions of dollars out of its budget.
"We've got the suport of our employees in our restructuring plan and this is a big part of it," Hawaiian Airlines spokesman Keoni Wagner said. "Restructuring our lease rents because quite frankly, the world has changed drastically since we signed our leases."
"It will be business as usual for the airline as we complete our restructuring," HAL Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Adams said.
He said the company will continue to honor tickets.
Adams said that the company hopes to be out of bankruptcy by the fall.
The company lists a number of creditors it owes millions of dollars to.
Top five creditors
Wells Fargo Bank Northwest $10,335,451.76 for capital lease on aircraft
Panda Travel $5.6 million for agency commissions
Aviation Insurance Services Pacific Inc. $2,543,245 for liability insurance
American Airlines $2.2 million over plane maintenance
Tesoro Hawaii Corp. $1.8 million for fuel
This is the second time the airline filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The first time was on Sept. 21, 1993. The company was able to pull itself out of bankruptcy a year later.
"We've been thoughthis once before and things will work out and we will come out of it again and we will be prospoerous," Wagner said.
At the beginning of the year, Hawaiian began a direct flight to and from Las Vegas, which it hoped would help bring in new revenues. The company parted ways with travel group Vacations Hawaii, which chartered flights to and from Las Vegas.
The U.S. Department of Transportation approved an agreement in September to allow Hawaiian Airlines and Aloha Airlines to operate outside federal antitrust law.
The agreement will allow the two inter-island carriers to communicate with one another on some competitive issues.
The exemption is for one year and is for five destinations: Honolulu, Lihue, Kahului, Kona and Hilo.
The two airlines cited a decline in Japanese visitors and a drop in tourism numbers since Sept. 11, 2001, as reasons for their losses in revenue. The two companies told the DOT that they are operating at below break-even levels for inter-island travel.
The Department of Transportation approved the two carriers' joint agreement, but said that it will closely monitor the schedules and fares being offered by Aloha and Hawaiian.
KITV 4 News and TheHawaiiChannel.com will bring you more details as this story develops.
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