Creditors’ panel
backs ouster of
Hawaiian Air CEO
Hawaiian Airlines' chances of retaining its current management, including Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Adams, suffered a setback today as the committee representing the carrier's unsecured creditors voted to support Boeing Capital Corp.'s motion for a trustee.
The seven-member committee's decision, although not unanimous, is expected to weigh on U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Faris' decision when he begins hearing arguments on that motion Thursday. Hawaiian filed for Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy March 21 and Boeing Capital filed its motion 10 days later.
Boeing Capital, which is renegotiating its leases with Hawaiian, is seeking a trustee because it claims Hawaiian's executive team has mismanaged the company's finances.
Meanwhile, Hawaiian's dispatchers have overwhelmingly rejected for the fourth time the airline's request for $186,000 in labor cost concessions. The dispatchers, represented by Transport Workers Union Local 540, are the only one of Hawaiian's five union groups yet to ratify an agreement. About two-thirds of the 25-member union rejected the tentative pact. Dispatchers are responsible for making the flight plan, which includes listing information about weather, winds and points of destination, and securing the fueling.
In another development, Faris approved stipulations yesterday allowing Hawaiian to defer aircraft lessor payments until June 21 to International Lease Finance Corp. and to June 27 to Boeing Capital Corp. He also granted a Boeing Capital stipulation that prohibits Hawaiian from entering into any lease agreements with other aircraft lessors until May 16. The expected extensions, which were procedural, gives the parties more time to document their agreements.