Aloha Airlines has formally exited bankruptcy with new investors joining longtime stakeholders to create a financially solid company.  Aloha’s emergence from Chapter 11 completes a wide-ranging reorganization begun in December 2004.

“Today, the 60-year-old tradition of Aloha Airlines has been reborn with a renewed commitment to serve the inter-island and transpacific markets with the finest and friendliest service in the sky,” said David A. Banmiller, Aloha’s president and chief executive officer.

“Aloha Airlines is now a 60-year-old start-up company with a low-cost structure,” said Banmiller.

The lead investor behind Aloha’s successful reorganization is The Yucaipa Cos., a private equity investment firm headed by Ronald W. Burkle. Participating with Yucaipa are Aloha Aviation Investment Group and Aloha Hawaii Investors LLC.

“Aloha Airlines has been able to restructure with the wholehearted support of our employees and our business partners and the loyalty of our customers,” said Banmiller, who will remain at the helm of Aloha as president and chief executive officer. “We can now move ahead with a new company built on the foundation of the old, and with financial backing from a slate of new investors who have teamed up with our longtime shareholders from the Ching and Ing families of Honolulu.”

Banmiller said: “We are especially grateful to Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle and her administration, U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Executive Director Bradley D. Belt, Hawaii’s congressional delegation and other elected officials across the state and the country who have assisted us. We also owe a debt of gratitude to a fabulous team of professionals and consultants who have worked closely with our own dedicated employees to get the job done under challenging conditions. Thanks to everyone who has worked so hard, the future certainly looks bright for Aloha Airlines.”

Founded in 1946 to give residents and visitors to Hawaii a choice in inter-island aviation, Aloha is Hawaii’s favorite airline. Aloha’s all-Boeing 737 fleet serves the most popular destinations in Hawaii and connects the Islands with Oakland, Sacramento, Orange County and San Diego, California; and Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada. Aloha Airlines has been voted one of the nation’s Top 10 domestic airlines in readers’ polls conducted by Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure and Zagat Survey.

Aloha is the only carrier to operate inter-island air freighters that carry mail and time-sensitive cargo between the Islands. Aloha’s Contract Services Division provides essential aviation services to domestic and international airlines serving Hawaii.
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