=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/c/a/2008/04/01/BUUTVTGB9.= DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, April 1, 2008 (SF Chronicle) Aloha means goodbye to Oakland George Raine, Chronicle Staff Writer An Aloha Airlines ticket agent closed the counter at Oakland Internation= al Airport at 11:35 a.m. Monday after the carrier's last flight departed for Hawaii and, like 1,900 other Aloha employees, walked away from a once proud but now bankrupt company. "They were a small operation here but an important operation to us," said Rosemary Barnes, the airport spokeswoman. "They were a mighty airline in terms of reputation for service and safety, and that is why it is so hard for us to lose Aloha." Aloha Airlines discontinued interisland and transpacific passenger servi= ce Sunday and Monday, a victim of $100-per-barrel crude oil and, it complained, low fares offered by a competitor on interisland routes called Go Airlines, a unit of Mesa Air Group, which also flies commuter service for several major airlines. This is Aloha's second bankruptcy since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "This is an incredibly dark day for Hawaii," David Banmiller, the Aloha president and chief executive, said in a statement. "Despite the groundswell of support from the community and our elected officials, we simply ran out of time to find a qualified buyer or secure continued financing of our passenger business." There was no notice given on Sunday when Banmiller announced that passenger operations would cease - although the company said it was running out of money when it filed for Bankruptcy Court protection on March 20. Gov. Linda Lingle of Hawaii attempted to intervene in Aloha Airlines' bankruptcy on Monday, asking a Bankruptcy Court judge in Honolulu not to allow the shutdown of passenger service until Aloha has shown it has exhausted all possible avenues for continuing its operations. Aloha's profitable cargo service is continuing. "Our main concerns are threefold - first and foremost the 1,900 employees and their families, the need for continued air service for our residents and visitors, and protection of the state's long-term fiscal and economic interests," Lingle said on her Web site. If Lingle is unsuccessful and Aloha remans shuttered, a major effect will be less capacity to and from the islands from the West Coast this summer, said Joe Brancatelli, who publishes Joe Sent Me, a newsletter for business travelers. He said that Aloha exacerbated its own problems by eliminating first-cla= ss service on interisland routes - which Hawaiian business travelers valued - and by slashing fares and adding seats to compete with Go Airlines. "If price- and capacity-matching is a sure route to bankruptcy - and Alo= ha publicly said that it was when Go launched (in 2006) - then why do it?" said Brancatelli, in New York. "Why not provide better service, restore perks like first class and try to win fliers willing to pay more? You may still fail, but at least the failure isn't preordained," he wrote in a newsletter on Saturday. Aloha Airlines dates to 1946, when it was called Trans-Pacific Airlines. It started operations at Oakland International Airport in February 2000, beginning with a flight to Honolulu and another to Maui, later adding other islands. In terms of revenue, Aloha represented only 0.88 percent of the airport's overall revenue for the fiscal year that ended June 30, said spokeswoman Barnes. In 2007, Aloha served 1.5 percent of the airport's 14.6 million passengers, or about 222,000. The airline had only one employee at the Oakland airport - the station manager - and the ticket agents and others were contracted employees, said Barnes. "They served such an important market for us," she said. "They will be missed." Barnes said "it is a priority for us going into the peak summer travel" = to hold discussions with other carriers that may be interested in providing the Oakland-Hawaii service. United Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines operate service to and from Hawaii from San Francisco International airport. Oakland's remaining Hawaiian service is provided by ATA, which began service in April 2006. Have an Aloha reservation? United Airlines is working to accommodate travelers who hold Aloha Airlines tickets. For more information, go to www.united.com. Aloha Airlines also answers customers' questions at its site, www.alohaairlines.com. E-mail George Raine at graine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx -------------------------= --------------------------------------------- Copyright 2008 SF Chronicle <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you wish to unsubscribe from the AIRLINE List, please send an E-mail to: "listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx". Within the body of the text, only write the following:"SIGNOFF AIRLINE".