Island Air sold to undisclosed buyer | KHON2 Hawaii's News Leader

 

Hopefully this means more flying positions. I live on Oahu and would love to stay.

 

Vpaa watch silver airways is buying them

 

Article says about the company buying island air:

"They do have some knowledge of the airline business "

well..... That's a good thing

 

New Island Air owner indicates layoffs likely - Hawaii News - Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Hope that isn't true...

 

Rumor is that Mesa is the buyer and they will fill the positions with their own pilots.

 

Ugh. I hope not. JO needs to disappear.

 

Mesa wouldn't touch WP, or shouldn't. The company is hemmorhaging cash faster than go! is - lots of reliability issues and a mini-revolt on Lanai has boosted Mokulele a bit.

"If you don't need to get there, fly Island Air.."

 

Givebacks part of deal, Island Air pilots say [The Honolulu Star-Advertiser]

Jan. 16--Island Air union leaders have been told that the company's preliminary agreement with a prospective new buyer calls for concessions from labor groups and a requirement that the airline's recently acquired ATR 72 plane be up and running by Feb. 13.

If not, then Island Air "will supposedly cease operations as of March 11," according to a memo sent Friday by local Air Line Pilots Association leadership to its crew members.

Island Air spokesman Michael Rodyniuk said Tuesday he hadn't seen the ALPA memo and declined to comment on its assertions. "That's specifics related to our sales agreement," he said.

Island Air owner Gavarnie Holding LLC, based in Novato, Calif., said last week it had found a buyer for the company and expected the sale to close in six to eight weeks. Island Air declined to name the buyer.

Island Air was required by state law to give its 245 employees at least 60 days' notice that the company may be sold and their employment may be terminated. The end of that period is March 11, and a new owner would have the option to retain current employees.

Island Air said in a notice Thursday to employees and the state Labor Department that the acquirer expects Island Air will engage "in a right sizing" of the workforce.

"Right sizing could be a growth scenario, too," Rodyniuk said. "We're looking for efficiencies and to get the appropriate-size organization for the mission that the company is going to be serving."

Island Air, which now is using just two planes, has 5 percent of the interisland passenger market.

Rodyniuk said Tuesday that Island Air expects the 64-seat ATR 72 to be "up and running in the next couple of weeks."

He said the identity of the buyer is being kept under wraps at its request.

That secrecy doesn't sit well with the unions, according to John Dean, senior labor relations counsel for ALPA.

"We've reached out to them for more information, and they have told us they'd be communicating with us shortly," Dean said. "But as of right now they have not shared anything further."

 

Jan 17, 2013, 7:25am HST
Data shows Island Air passenger count has declined in recent years

Passenger traffic on Island Air has been falling over the past several years, and traffic on the Hawaii interisland airline for the first nine months of 2012 was 21 percent less than the previous year.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports Island Air, which said last week that it has an agreement to be sold to an unnamed buyer, carried 241,019 passengers between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, according to the most recent numbers available from the U.S. Department of Transportation, which was 21 percent fewer passengers than the 304,641 flown during the same period in 2011. The newspaper reports passenger traffic has declined in five of the past six years, according to DOT data.

Island Air said last week that its sale to an unnamed buyer could close within the next eight weeks, and has notified state labor officials that there may be layoffs when the sale is completed.