"We are still conducting a thorough investigation as to what exactly needs to be done to avoid a delisting," said Richard Havel, a partner in the bankruptcy corporation reorganization department of Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP. "We still don't have a complete picture."

But Josh Gotbaum, the trustee overseeing Hawaiian Airlines' bankruptcy reorganization, suggested in a statement late yesterday that releasing the airline's money for Hawaiian Holdings appears unlikely.

"As trustee for Hawaiian Airlines, I have authority to make expenditures in the ordinary course of Hawaiian Airlines business," Gotbaum said. "But without specific authority granted by the bankruptcy court, I am not authorized to use the company's assets to pay liabilities of any other person or entity. The court would not likely approve the use of Hawaiian Airlines' assets to pay Holdings' debts unless that expenditure would benefit Hawaiian Airlines."

Hawaiian Airlines, the Islands largest airliner, filed for bankruptcy protection in March. Trading of Hawaiian Holdings' common stock on the American Stock Exchange and Pacific Exchange has been halted since Monday, following the resignation of the company's transfer agent, Mellon Investor Services LLC.

Hawaiian Holdings owed an undisclosed amount of fees to Mellon, which had been responsible for transferring the securities ownership.

In June, Ernst & Young LLP also resigned as auditors for Hawaiian Holdings Inc.

Until August 2002, Hawaiian Airlines was responsible for meeting its filing obligations, Havel said. Then Hawaiian Holdings was created in a corporate restructuring to act as a shell company to hold Hawaiian Airlines' stock, he said.

"The holding company doesn't have any assets or business operations," Havel said.

Half of Hawaiian Holdings nearly 29 million shares of outstanding stock are controlled by Airline Investors Partnership, the company managed by John Adams, Hawaiian Airlines' chairman and CEO.

Attorneys for Hawaiian Holdings have spoken to Gotbaum about rehiring Ernst & Young or another auditor, getting airline personnel and information to conduct the necessary public filings or releasing whatever money might be needed to hire professionals to meet filing deadlines, Havel said.

"For reasons that are nobody's fault, there has been a long delay to get a trustee to talk to us about this," Havel said.

The search for a bankruptcy trustee took two weeks after the appointment was approved by the bankruptcy court in May. The delay was followed by the sudden resignation of trustee John Monahan three weeks later.

Gotbaum was appointed more than a week later. Today marks the end of Gotbaum's second week on the job.

Hawaiian Holdings officials went public with their concerns yesterday, Havel said, because "a number of shareholders were concerned where things were. The company felt that it was appropriate to get something out now."