Airline trustee search extended

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

The groups involved in selecting a new trustee to oversee Hawaiian Airlines' bankruptcy plan to work through the weekend with the hope of finishing the search by Monday, with an announcement to follow on Tuesday, said Steven Katzman, U.S. trustee for Southern California, Hawai'i, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Katzman originally had hoped to have a trustee selected by yesterday, just three days after John Monahan unexpectedly resigned three weeks into his role as trustee, citing personal reasons.

But the job of finding a replacement has been more difficult than expected, Katzman said.

No candidate sits on the top of the lists submitted by the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors and Boeing Capital Corp., one of the companies that leases planes to Hawaiian and is a major creditor.

The new trustee may or may not come from an airline background, said Katzman.

Some of the finalists from the previous search are no longer candidates and new people are now interested, including some with extensive airline experience. At one point this week, the various groups were sifting through 20 different names, with more people expressing interest.

"There's no big secret that there's been a lot of upheaval in the airline industry," Katzman said. "A lot of people want to get settled."

One particular problem has been finding a candidate who meets the requirement of a "disinterested person," who — for example — has no stock interests in either Hawaiian or its competitors.

"It was easier with Monahan," Katzman said.

Monahan had no airline experience but was in charge of Liberty House during the three years it was in bankruptcy.

Reach Dan Nakaso at 525-8085 or dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.