ALOHA AIRLINES PHOTO
Aloha Airlines has asked its employees to take two
days a month off without pay so that all furloughed
workers can return.

Aloha Air gets
$4.2 million in first
bailout payment

The carrier and rival Hawaiian
Airlines also are lobbying the state
Legislature for emergency help

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By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com

Aloha Airlines has received $4.2 million as its first installment from the $15 billion federal airline recovery plan, according to U.S. Department of Transportation records.

Hawaiian Airlines has received a little over $18 million. Both airlines, hit hard by a huge drop in leisure travel after the disaster, say they expect equal amounts in a second installment. But all of their payments are subject to convincing the federal government of their projections of future losses.

Meanwhile both have had layoffs -- about 430 at Hawaiian and about 250 at Aloha -- and both expect losses that they don't yet want to make public.

Aloha has asked all of its employees, including President and Chief Executive Officer Glenn R. Zander, to take two days a month off without pay. If they accept that, all the furloughed workers will be brought back Nov. 1, Aloha says. Union officials have not said whether they might approve such an arrangement.

The federal bailout must be related to actual and projected losses, under the emergency law that created it. Both local airlines say they are not sure how that will work out in the end.

Both have also proposed to the state Legislature that among other emergency measures they would like to see passed, such as confirming the landing-fees waiver put in place by Gov. Ben Cayetano and other airport rent breaks, they would like a rule that says the federal money should not be treated as income for the state's general excise tax.

That could just add a 4 percent penalty to what is supposed to be aid, the airlines are telling legislators. All of those matters will come up in the emergency session of the state Legislature to start Oct. 22.

Preliminary state figures derived from airline statistics, immigration entry data and other sources confirm that arrivals in Hawaii are much lower than normal, particularly among visitors from Asia.

For the first five days of October, for example, total arrivals from Japan were down 37 percent compared to the same period last year -- a drop of nearly 11,000 people to 18,800 from 29,700 in the same five calendar days last year.

Hawaii's total arrival count is running 25 percent to 30 percent below this time last year, according to state figures. Those low numbers have caused concern throughout the island tourist industry.

Aid for airlines The federal support program as of Friday had paid airlines $2.4 billion. The leading recipients in the amounts paid so far: >> United Airlines, $390 million >> American Airlines, $359 million >> Delta Airlines, $327 million The smallest aid package of the 95 carriers paid so far: >> $340 to Grand Canyon Helicopters The amounts paid to local carriers so far: >> Hawaiian Airlines, $18 million >> Aloha Airlines, $4.2 million Source: U.S. Department of Transportation