Go!, the interisland airline that has battled fare wars and legal challenges since starting service in June 2006, lost money again in its fiscal fourth quarter but posted its smallest loss in nine months.

Mesa Air Group, parent of go!, reported in a belated Securities and Exchange Commission filing today that go! had an operating loss of $6.7 million in the fiscal fourth quarter ended Sept. 30, 2008.

It was the best quarter for go! since it lost $6.6 million in its fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 30, 2007. In the fiscal fourth quarter of 2007, go! lost $4.4 million.

“;Going forward, at current fuel prices, go! is currently cash positive and we continue to see opportunities in Hawaii,”; Mesa Chairman and Chief Executive Jonathan Ornstein said during a conference call today. “;We recently announced that we are adding an additional aircraft into go! for the busy spring and summer season.

Advance bookings continue to be very strong. In March, it's approximately double where we were at last year and we continue to see positive trends in traffic in Hawaii.”;

For the year, go!'s operating loss more than doubled to just under $30 million from $13.9 million. Go! now has lost $49.7 million since the start of operations in Hawaii.

The carrier also announced today that it is canceling its go!Express partnership with Mokulele Airlines in April.

“;We thought the partnership had been fairly successful and worked well with Mokulele, but it's hard to remain in partnership with a party that's chosen to take another path rather than build up their partnership to develop their own brand,”; Ornstein said. “;Our new competition has not had a material impact on our traffic. So far, for December and January, advance bookings are significantly stronger than last year. March is double where we were at the same time last year.”;

Last year, Mokulele formed a partnership with Indianapolis-based Republic Airways and brought in two 70-seat Embraer jets with two more to follow this year.

“;Their loads (percentage of seats filled) have historically been operating below 20 percent,”; Ornstein said. I'm not sure to what degree that would be sustainable for Mokulele.”;

Revenue for go! more than doubled in the fourth quarter to $14.7 million from $7.2 million as average fares increased 48.7 percent and the number of passengers it carried grew 10 percent. Operating expenses rose 93.7 percent to $22.4 million from $11.6 million.

For the year, go!'s revenue jumped 70.4 percent to $43.7 million from $25.7 million while its operating expenses increased 86.1 percent to $73.7 million from $39.6 million.

Mesa , which had $64.9 million in cash as of Sept. 30, also reported today that overall its net loss narrowed to $30.6 million, or $1.15 a share, in the fiscal fourth quarter from $68.2 million, or $2.37 a share, a year earlier.

Included in the quarter was a $2 million expense from an Aloha Airlines lawsuit settlement.