Casey drops from
list of Hawaiian Air
trustee names
Paul Casey, a former vice chairman, chief executive officer and president of Hawaiian Airlines, has withdrawn his name from consideration as a trustee at the ailing carrier, a source close to the situation said yesterday.
Casey was making $375,000 when he resigned in March 2002 at about the time the Hawaiian-Aloha airlines merger fell apart. He is still owed $923,000 in severance.
However, he'll likely end up with considerably less than that amount since Hawaiian filed for Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy on March 21. Casey, who was with Hawaiian from 1997 to 2002, would have had to waive that amount in order to take the trustee position.
Casey, who is working for a travel software company in Bangkok, Thailand, did not return e-mail and phone messages left for him.
Michael McQuay, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Hawaiian from 1995 to 1997, talked with Boeing Capital Corp. earlier this week but declined to elaborate on their discussion. McQuay is president of Dallas-based Bombardier Business Jet Solutions.
Aircraft lessor Boeing Capital and an unsecured creditors committee also are planning to submit separate lists rather than a combined one, sources said. Boeing Capital is expected to submit three to five names and the creditors committee three to four names, sources said. Their names are expected to be turned in to the U.S. Trustee's Office in Honolulu today.
Curtis Ching, a trial attorney with the Trustee's Office, said yesterday he hopes a trustee will be named by the end of next week. That decision will be made by San Diego-based U.S. Trustee Steven Katzman.
Meanwhile, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Faris approved a Hawaiian motion yesterday allowing the airline to proceed with a frequent flier credit card agreement with Bank of America that will produce revenue for Hawaiian of a minimum of $58 million to $119 million during a seven- to eight-year period. Bank of America already paid Hawaiian $24 million of the advanced revenue guarantee in December 2002. That payment covers two years worth of HawaiianMiles that Bank of America MasterCard and Visa card users can earn for using their credit card.
"This is important to Hawaiian Airlines," Hawaiian Chief Financial Officer Christine Deister said. "We wanted to have a partnership with a bank that has a broad reach. Bank of America is predominantly in the West Coast of the U.S., which is where we fly."
Deister met to answer questions from Hawaiian creditors this morning in U.S. Trustee Hearing Room 606 at 1132 Bishop St.