Merged airline would keep cargo planes
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
The head of the proposed merger of Aloha and Hawaiian airlines mollified air cargo operators yesterday by saying that the combined airline would continue using three or four 737-200 planes — the workhorse of Hawai'i's air cargo industry.
Greg Brenneman, the chairman and CEO Texas-based TurnWorks, also told a gathering of the Air Cargo Association of Hawaii that the new airline would be obligated to continue freight operations through an agreement with the state attorney general.
The assurances are important to an industry that touches everyone from flower farmers to fishermen, from bakers to construction contractors.
"I think (Brenneman) did a credible job of convincing the cargo people," said Brian Suzuki, president of Hawaii Air Cargo Inc. "He said he's there to improve the service and help the community and do a good enough job that will make it difficult for a competitor to come in."
Cargo operations make up $40 million to $50 million of the combined airlines' $950 million business, Brenneman said. "It's nicely profitable," he said.
The cargo business still has room to expand, Brenneman said, particularly through more direct flights from the Neighbor Islands to the Mainland.
Such flights could reduce spoiled goods and open up new markets for Hawai'i products, he said.
"I see the cargo business growing, not shrinking," Brenneman said.
Businesses that rely on inter-island air cargo get cheaper rates by flying standby and loading their products on available passenger flights, often 717s. But the bulk of inter-island goods are shipped overnight on 737-200 flights dedicated for cargo.
Brenneman said he would prefer to have only two kinds of planes in the merged airline's new fleet — one for long-range flights to the Mainland and Asia; and smaller 717s for inter-island business. Continuing to use the 737-200 for cargo-only flights means the new airline would have to maintain parts, operations and training for a third airplane, Brenneman said.
But he wants to discontinue the idea of taking seats out of 717s at night for cargo runs, then re-installing them for passenger flights in the morning.
"Smelling the tuna fish on a passenger flight has never been a big objective of mine," he said. "As much maintenance as you do on the airplanes — you tear them up at night and you put seats back in them in the morning — it's not an ideal product."
The idea of keeping the 737-200s for operations dedicated to night-time cargo flights made cargo operators happy, Suzuki said.
"It's not a matter of liking it," he said. "It's that we depend on it. It carries everything from the mail to bread to cut flowers."
