HONOLULU -- ATA Airlines announced overnight that it canceled all future flights.

ATA Airlines filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday because of financial problems.

The Indianapolis-based, low cost airline said it loss a key contract for military charters.

"We deeply regret the disruption and hardship caused by the sudden shutdown of ATA, an outcome we and our employees had worked very hard and made many sacrifices to avoid. Unfortunately, the cancellation of a critical agreement for our military charter business undermined ATA's plan to address the current conditions facing all scheduled service airlines, including the tremendous spike in the price of jet fuel in recent months. As a result, it became impossible for ATA to continue operating," ATA Chief Operating Officer Doug Yakola said in a written statement.

ATA passengers were greeted with an announcement at the ticket counter at Honolulu International Airport that the airline had discontinued operations.

Sunny Crowley, of Makaha, was scheduled to fly ATA to California for a business meeting. It is the second time in two weeks that it has happened to her.

"I'm a natural products broker, which means I have to fly around to various health food stores and supermarkets, and I just can't get around. So now I've lost Aloha, which I'd always fly on. I didn't fly go!, but I guess I have to now," she said.

ATA averaged 15 flights a day to and from Hawaii, and employed 50 people locally.

Even with the surprise announcement, the state was able to get some advance warning to travelers.

"A lot of the hotels were contacted late last night, and they managed to get to the passengers before they checked out this morning," Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa said.

That action helped to prevent a mob scene at the ATA counters, but those who were not informed ahead of time would have appreciated having somebody from ATA there to tell them what to do next.

That included the Bennallack family, stopping over on their way to the mainland.

"Thought we'd spend a day here in Honolulu, and we get here this morning on our flight from Australia, and we find out ATA is no longer in business," Paul Bannallack said.

The last ATA Boeing 737 took off from Honolulu on Thursday morning, bringing the plane and its crew back to the mainland, but no passengers.

People who purchased tickets from ATA using a credit card can contact their credit card company for more information about how to get a refund for unused tickets.

Here are ATA FAQs for passengers.

The shutdown comes on the heels of Aloha Airlines' closure on Monday. That shutdown cut 1,900 jobs.