Hawaiian executives distance themselves from CEO HONOLULU (AP) ? Appointment of a trustee to replace Hawaiian Airlines chairman and chief executive John Adams would be "tremendously damaging," top company officials say. At the same time, top managers appear to be distancing themselves from Adams, whose governance of the company has led Boeing Capital of Seattle, a major creditor, to seek his ouster in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. "If you look at the nature of Boeing's motion and you look at the complaint they have against the company, it's directed at the board of directors and John Adams," Hawaiian president Mark B. Dunkerley said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press. "While remedying what they perceive to be their issues, (appointing a trustee) would also have what we can only presume to be an unintended consequence of whacking the business at a time when we can ill afford to sustain that kind of damage," he said. Boeing filed a motion March 31 for appointment of a trustee to oversee operations while Hawaiian attempts to emerge from bankruptcy protection. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert J. Faris scheduled arguments on the motion Thursday and Friday. "We're not saying Boeing's right, we're not saying Boeing's wrong," Dunkerley said. "What we're saying is this particular proposed remedy ? the appointment of a trustee which seems to be driven by questions of governance of the company and composition of the board of directors and so on ? has what we can only assume is an unintended consequence." Dunkerley and company treasurer Christine R. Deister said Boeing's motion has cast additional doubt on the future of the regional carrier at a crucial time for business and would delay implementation of a plan to save the company. "People will book away from Hawaiian Airlines right at the time when we expect our most important bookings to be received," Dunkerley said. "To have that stigma (of trusteeship) attached to us would have an awful and dangerous impact on our business." Boeing Capital, the financial arm of Boeing Co., is Hawaiian's main equipment lessor. The others are International Lease Finance Corp. and Ansett Worldwide Aviation Inc. Boeing's motion stated in part that airline management, especially Adams, "has conclusively demonstrated that its extensive self-dealing and inherent conflicts of interests require appointment of a trustee." Boeing remained firm in its demand Tuesday. "Our concern, as stated in our motion, is with the entire management, so we think it would be best that a completely independent trustee be the best course of action," Boeing spokesman Russ Young said by telephone from Seattle. Hawaiian filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 21 after Boeing refused to renegotiate lease agreements that were signed between 1999 and 2001, before the downturn in air travel that followed the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. In the months before bankruptcy, the airline worked on a financial plan dependent on productivity concessions and renegotiation of terms with all three airplane lessors. With ILFC and Ansett "we didn't actually reach agreement, but we were talking the same sort of language and getting to where we felt pretty comfortable we could reach an agreement," Dunkerley said. "With respect to Boeing, we didn't get there." Boeing's motion criticized a number of Hawaiian's financial decisions, especially payment of about $25 million to shareholders in a 2002 tender offer in July at the same time that the lessors were being asked for $20 million in cost reductions. Adams' court filing said the money as a reward to shareholders who bought Hawaiian stock in anticipation of a merger with rival Aloha Airlines that never came to pass. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.cso.gov.tt TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************