Posted on: Tuesday, June 17, 2003

Mainline has July 9 court date

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

A temporary restraining order against the 18-year-old chief executive officer of a start-up airline that promised cut-rate flights to Honolulu was extended yesterday so he can find an attorney.

Circuit Judge Eden Elizabeth Hifo gave Luke R. Thompson of Pennsylvania until July 9 to either represent himself in Honolulu or hire an attorney in connection with a request for a permanent injunction filed by the state Office of Consumer Protection.

Hifo extended the order until July 10 and said the Office of Consumer Protection would get its injunction at a new hearing on July 9 if neither Thompson nor his attorney appears.

Thompson's Mainline Airways advertised one-way tickets from Honolulu to Los Angeles for as low as $89 but is not certified by the Federal Aviation Administration to fly. The Office of Consumer Protection obtained the restraining order to keep Mainline from selling tickets or collecting payments.

Thompson established Mainline Airways' Web site earlier this year while attending Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. Babson calls itself a top school for budding entrepreneurs.

Hawai'i officials suspect that perhaps hundreds of people were drawn by Mainline's Web site that promised jets with leather seats and personal TVs for every seat.