New Owner Takes Over Aloha Cargo

HONOLULU -- The new owners of Aloha Airlines' cargo air freight division took over operations on Wednesday.

The company will be called Aloha Air Cargo. Almost all the employees kept their jobs.

Just a few weeks ago, employees got no notice when Aloha announced it was closing down cargo immediately, because it could not find any buyers. Now Saltchuk Resources of Seattle, which owns interisland shipper Young Brothers Ltd., has taken over cargo.

Executives, employees and clients of Aloha Air Cargo gathered outside its brick headquarters at Honolulu International Airport for a Hawaiian blessing.

While 1,900 Aloha Airlines employees lost their jobs when the passenger division closed down, nearly all the cargo employees, between 370 and 400 people, are keeping their jobs.

Kamuela Clemente is an Aloha dispatcher and a 16-year employee.

"I was happy for the people that were here, because it kind of starts off like a new beginning, but at the same time you remember the people that didn't have the fortune of being hired by Aloha Air Cargo. So, it's kind of mixed emotions," Clemente said.

The chief operating officer of the company is Mike Coffman, who ran cargo at the "old" Aloha.

"And now we have the remarkable euphoria of being able to save this many jobs and continue what I consider to be really essential service going forward as far as the islands are concerned," Coffman said.

He said no one was hired from outside of Aloha and all employees are getting, "pay and benefits essentially comparable to what they were being paid before."

Coffman said pilots will have to work more hours for the same pay.

The pilots' union said its members are also losing night and per diem pay, plus retirement that is worth 17 percent of their salaries.

Cargo customers like Reuben Balidoy of the Spinning Web Florist in Liliha picked up fresh flowers from the Big Island.

"It's good to see them back in action. We've dealt with them for over 16 years and its hard when you see people that you've dealt with that long losing their jobs, and it's great to see them back on the job," Balidoy said.

The cargo operation has only three planes operating instead of five because one is being repaired in Costa Rica and another is being returned to its owner because it lacks noise-suppression engines.

Coffman said the planes have increased to about 16 round trips every night from Oahu. That is up from about 14 every night before.