Aloha Airlines Being Driven Out

I grew up in Hawaii. I grew up flying back and forth between my home here on Oahu and Kona on the Big Island. One thing people may not know about me is that I have an extreme interest, you may call it an obsession with the flying machines that are airplanes, commercial jets especially. Everything about huge jetliners are beautiful and amazing. I can spend hours watching them take off and land at the small parking lot at the end of Lagoon Drive, where you can get a great view of Honolulu International Airport's Reef Runway. I grew up on two familiar airlines, Aloha and Hawaiian. Two different, but equally beautiful airlines, that have been a big part of the culture in Hawaii and to the people of Hawaii.

Recently, Go! Airlines operated by Mesa Air Group from out-of-state has begun operating inter-island flights in Hawaii with an explicit goal to drive one of the native airlines out of business by operating at a loss. I can respect businesses rights to compete with one another, because the consumer normally benefits when two companies compete for their business. But when a business is operating at a loss, with the purpose to drive another out of business, so it can then take advantage of the consumers it claims to be helping, that I find despicable. What's even worse is it has been shown that Go! Airlines illegally used confidential business information from Hawaiian and Aloha Airlines to enter and operate in the Hawaii inter-island market. Aloha Airlines has filed for Bankruptcy and is on the verge of shutting down. Aloha Airlines shut down would put it's employees, some of who have been with the company for over 20 years, out of work. I hope somehow Aloha Airlines will find a way to survive the vicious attack by Go! Airlines and continue to operate. Hopefully when I drive to the tiny parking lot at the end of Lagoon Drive I will still see two beautiful, familiar planes flying the Hawaiian skies.