The preliminary ruling was a blow to Mesa Air Group, owner of go!, which is being sued for $177 million in damages by Hawaiian.
If Hawaiian wins the damages, Mesa may be forced to shut down go!, according to at least one industry analyst.
...

In the worst-case scenario for Phoenix-based Mesa, the company may be forced to seek bankruptcy protection, said Scott Hamilton, a Washington state-based aviation industry consultant.

Since the June 2006 launch of go!, Mesa's cash holdings have fallen from about $345 million to about $198 million, Hamilton said, making it difficult for Mesa to pay $177 million in damages.

"There's not a single ray of sunshine in what's transpired since the beginning of the litigation for Mesa," Hamilton said. "There are dangers all over the place for Mesa on this thing."

...


Meanwhile, (Hawaiian CEO Mark) Dunkerley said he was "astonished" by the lengths that Mesa has gone through to defend its alleged misconduct.
"To put an employee — indeed a friend of the CEO for 30-odd years — to hang him out to dry, to push him under the bus, with this absolutely flimsy and transparent argument about pornography is unbelievable," Dunkerley said.

Jonathan Ornstein, chairman and CEO of Mesa, said Faris will be making "an important decision not only for Mesa, but for the traveling public in Hawaii."
"It goes without saying that if Hawaiian is successful in its request to evict go! from the market, the travelers in Hawaii will suffer from the same high fares that they experienced for so long in the past," Ornstein said. "I don't think there are many people in Hawaii who don't realize that this case is more about eliminating competition than anything else. In spite of Hawaiian's persistent and continuing attempt to tie myself and other people at Mesa to some type of improper activity, we are pleased that the judge determined that there was no evidence found that anyone at Mesa, other than Peter (Murnane), acted improperly."