Aloha’s cargo pilots may walk off the job. Their union, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) wants Aloha Airlines to reassign senior pilots to cargo flights, while the airline wants to use the current cadre of 25 or 30 cargo pilots. ALPA claims its contract with Aloha requires the airline to consider the entire 250-pilot pool.
This conflict may ground the Aloha’s cargo flights, which are still operating while the bankruptcy judge prepares to auction off the business. A walkout or contract dispute may delay or destroy the planned sale of Aloha’s cargo business. The Seattle-based parent of Superferry opponent Young Brothers is the only confirmed bidder, with a US$13 million offer. See this article in today’s Honolulu Star-Bulletin for more details.
Check’s in the mail
Aloha Airlines flies the US mail flights to and from Maui and the big island of Hawaii. Aloha also delivers fresh bread and other perishable foods between the island, according to this Honolulu Advertiser article:
According to the latest available state statistics, in 2006 there was 47,000 tons of non-mail air cargo transported from Honolulu to the Neighbor Islands, and 22,000 tons from the Neighbor Islands to Honolulu.
Mail added another 16,500 tons to the Neighbor Islands and 2,200 tons to Honolulu.
State of shock
A long-term disruption in interisland shipping may trigger more layoffs at other companies, further weakening the state’s economy. As this article in the Star-Bulletin discusses, home prices have continued to drop on Oahu. Here’s a disturbing quote from today’s Advertiser article, and I hope it is not prophetic:
The economists doubt home prices will fall more than a few percentage points unless there’s a shock to the state economy that reverses job and income growth, creates a population exodus or boosts interest rates sharply.
