Go! and Mesa found themselves in some controversy early on. As we wrote in 2008, a judge in 2007 awarded Hawaiian Airlines $90 million, plus attorney fees and interest, on Hawaiian’s claims that Mesa had taken confidential information provided by Hawaiian in anticipation of a possible investment by Mesa, then used that information to create Go! to compete against Hawaiian in Hawaii.

In 2008, Mesa agreed to pay Hawaiian Airlines $52.5 million to settle the lawsuit.

Mesa also tried to buy the Aloha Airlines name for Go!, but its offer was rejected in 2009 by the bankruptcy judge handling the Aloha case.

““Mesa … entered the Hawaii inter-island air market with the intention of forcing Aloha out of business and with the advantage of confidential information obtained from both Hawaiian and Aloha. Mesa attempted to conceal its misbehavior by document destruction and false statements, made under oath,” the judge wrote in his decision.