Would-be Hawaiian Air
group faces setback

A group seeking approval for a reorganization plan for bankrupt Hawaiian Airlines suffered a major setback yesterday when a bankruptcy judge ruled that creditors hadn't received notification of a Dec. 10 hearing on the proposal.

Hawaiian Airlines pilot Robert Konop; the Hawaiian Reorganization Committee, which consists of some airline employees and small creditors; and the Hawaiian Investment Partners Group LLC had planned to present arguments next week for approval to disseminate their reorganization plan.

However, Judge Robert Faris postponed the hearing until Jan. 12 after objections from proponents of another reorganization plan. That proposal, which already has been sent to creditors for a vote, has the backing of Hawaiian Airlines trustee Joshua Gotbaum, the airline's unsecured creditors' committee and Hawaiian's parent company.

The decision to postpone the hearing jeopardizes the chances of the Konop group to be successful in its bid for Hawaiian since votes for the Konop plan -- if approved to be sent to the creditors -- wouldn't be due to be mailed back by the creditors until probably late February. A hearing to confirm the Gotbaum-backed reorganization plan for Hawaiian is set for Jan. 25.

However, the Gotbaum-backed plan could be opposed if the airline cannot reach labor agreements with its pilots, flight attendants and machinists, and seeks to terminate their current contracts. In that situation, confirmation of the Gotbaum-backed plan could be delayed.