When will he come up with a restructuring plan? And when does he think Hawaiian will finally emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection?

Gotbaum has gotten those questions a lot in the three weeks he's been on the job as the new bankruptcy trustee for Hawai'i's largest airline. But to impose deadlines on himself to come up with things such as a restructuring plan would place Gotbaum in what he calls a "straitjacket." And that would interfere with the hard work of figuring out how Hawaiian runs and what it needs to do to become profitable, he said.

"I'd love to give everybody certainties," Gotbaum said. "But this is not the kind of thing that lends itself to cookie cutter answers."

In his first interview since taking over Hawaiian Airlines on July 7, Gotbaum said one of his main responsibilities is understanding the inner workings of "a company that's in transition in an industry that's in transition."

He's still interpreting Hawaiian's performance for the first six months of the year in which the company generated $9.6 million in net income for June — but only $7.7 million in net income for the entire first half of 2003.

June remains a busy beginning for the summer travel season, and this year Hawaiian benefitted from increased travel and a new fleet of planes that meant lower maintenance costs. At the same time, Hawaiian has been able to renegotiate some of its airplane lease costs.

But that doesn't explain the financial performance for the first five months of the year, Gotbaum acknowledged.

"It's too early for me to give an assessment of the current finances of the airline, much less its prospects," Gotbaum said.

Plenty has happened just since U.S. Trustee Steven Katzman selected Gotbaum on July 3 following John Monahan, who resigned unexpectedly after just three weeks, citing unexplained personal reasons.

On July 14, the American Stock Exchange and Pacific Exchange halted trading of Hawaiian's parent company's stock, following the resignation of Hawaiian Holdings transfer agent, Mellon Investor Services LLC. Hawaiian Holdings owed an undisclosed amount of fees to Mellon, which had been responsible for transferring securities ownership.

Mellon's resignation followed the June resignation of Hawaiian Holdings' auditors, Ernst & Young LLP. Now Hawaiian Holdings wants Hawaiian Airlines to provide staff and financial information, if not money, to meet an Aug. 15 filing deadline for second quarter earnings reports and to avoid being delisted by the American Stock Exchange.

Gotbaum, 51, who is animated, easy-going and eager to smile, said those kind of actions don't trouble him because they don't directly affect Hawaiian Airlines.

The cessation of stock trading, in particular, "only bothers me if it bothers the employees of Hawaiian Airlines," Gotbaum said. "In most bankruptcies, a company's stock does not keep its value."

Gotbaum sat across a small, round conference table in the fourth-floor, Airport Industrial Park office that used to be occupied by John Adams, Hawaiian's chairman and CEO. It was Adams who fought attempts by Hawaiian's creditors to convince a federal bankruptcy judge to turn control over to a trustee.

Adam's former window view of Honolulu International Airport's control tower served as a backdrop as Gotbaum described a recent meeting with Adams in New York. Like so many other people, Gotbaum said, Adams wants to see Hawaiian Airlines succeed.

"He was courteous and supportive," Gotbaum said. "He went out of his way to explain why he thought Hawaiian Airlines is something special."

To begin to understand how to turn Hawaiian around, Gotbaum's workdays sometimes stretch from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. The only personal touch in his office is a family picture taken in snow country and a spare pair of leather loafers below his computer table.

Hawaiian's financial situation, Gotbaum said, is "no worse than I expected." But the things that have surprised Gotbaum have been good.

The airline performs better than he thought. And he's been particular impressed by the attitude of employees who took job concessions only to see their company file for bankruptcy protection for the second time in 10 years.

"There is an extraordinary amount of good will by the employees of Hawaiian Airlines for Hawaiian Airlines," Gotbaum said. "One of the things that's very special about Hawaiian is that the employees are very dedicated to Hawaiian's success."

In his first mass communication with company employees, Gotbaum wrote a one-page letter on July 16 that said in part:

"Being in bankruptcy is not easy. Some of you remember what it was like the first time, but each time is different. Bankruptcy is like flying through bumpy air: if everyone does their part and stays calm, we will get through it and land safely."

Gotbaum has met with some of Hawaiian's creditors in New York; Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawai'i, in Washington; and Monahan and representatives from Hawaiian's machinists union. He spends much of each day interviewing airline industry consultants, financial consultants, investment bankers and others — mostly on the East Coast — who might help him with market analysis, aircraft pricing and fleet planning.

At the same time, he's trying to understand Hawaiian's financial relationships, think ahead to what Mainland competitors might do in Hawai'i's market and figure out the implications of employee pension funds that have been under-financed.

Among Hawaiian's 54 job openings, Gotbaum also needs to fill two senior management positions just below the level of president — general counsel and senior vice president for marketing.

Gotbaum has borne the weight of similar pressures before.

He worked as an investment banker for 13 years with Lazard Freres & Co., based in New York and London, where he was an adviser to Eastern Air Lines, Braniff and Pan American through their restructurings.

He was an assistant secretary of defense and treasury, and controller of the Office of Management and Budget overseeing the financial management of federal agencies. In 2001 he was named the first CEO of The Sept. 11th Fund.

While Gotbaum won't be pinned down on his timetable for Hawaiian Airlines, he also faces unknowns in his personal life.

Gotbaum's salary still needs to be worked out with the bankruptcy court. And he still doesn't know when his wife, 11-year-old daughter and two sons, ages 9 and 8, will arrive from Washington, D.C.

He also doesn't know where his family will live or where his children will go to school.

For now, he lives out of the Hawai'i Prince Hotel wearing only the clothes he could fit into two suitcases. He tugged at the pale yellow Polo shirt on his chest and said he's been told he needs to trade in his golf shirts for aloha prints.

Finding the time to shop for aloha shirts, however, hardly compares to the job of running a company struggling to right itself.

But Gotbaum was understated in the enormity of the challenge.

"Everybody recognizes that this is not an easy process," he said.