"We have to ask what is normal in this time," said Bill Oliver, vice president of The Boyd Group, a Colorado-based aviation consulting and research firm.

"The whole industry's upside down with bankruptcies and rumors of bankruptcies. Nothing's normal right now."

Monahan, 52, resigned citing unspecified personal reasons. Locally, the search for his successor has proceeded rapidly against a backdrop of a busy summer travel season that has seen major carriers announce new Hawai'i routes, more flights, airfare increases and more competition. Hawaiian and its main local rival, Aloha Airlines, said last week they are adding about 100 interisland flights per week for the summer.

"Two airlines are going head to head for a very specific market, flying aircraft that are more expensive and larger than what should probably be flown," Oliver said. "But that's what the public wants. So it seems like Hawai'i would be a very difficult place to make money these days."

Internally, Monahan's resignation creates more turmoil for Hawaiian's 3,400 employees and raises questions about how long it will take Hawaiian to emerge from bankruptcy when a new trustee takes over, said Barbara Beyer, president of Avmark Inc., a Virginia-based aviation consulting firm that worked with Hawaiian in the 1980s.

Hawaiian has been in bankruptcy before. And employees granted the company $15.3 million in concessions only to see Hawaiian file for bankruptcy in March.

The result for employees at this point, Beyer said, is "a zillion miles of cynicism."

"These guys have been there, done that, been there done that, been there done that. They're not expecting the next guy to ride in on a white horse. They're saying, 'How badly are we going to get screwed this time?' " Beyer said.

Hawaiian employees contacted last week said they have been instructed by company officials not to talk to the media. Hawaiian's main spokesman, however, said employees have been told they can speak freely but may not like the way their comments are portrayed.

Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian's president and chief operating officer, said last week that he had spoken to some employees and they remain committed to running Hawaiian's operations. "Our business continues as it has before," Dunkerley said.

Beyer's view is that "most airline employees are very dedicated employees who will do anything to keep the carrier flying."

"But you can only take them to the cleaners so often before they get tired of it," Beyer said. "Their only hope is to have the company restructured and pay them a whole hell of a lot to do the same kind of work. After a while that gets old."

While employees, Hawaiian officials, creditors and Gov. Linda Lingle's administration are all waiting to see what happens next, Hawaiian's largest constituency — the flying public — remains largely unconcerned for now.

Through bankruptcies and management changes everywhere, passengers have "grown very jaded," Beyer said. And "to be quite honest, as long as they think the airline's going to fly, customers care very little."

As Oliver said, "the flying public only cares about fares and getting from Point A to Point B on time. 'How much is it going to cost me? Is the plane going to leave and is it going to arrive on time?' "

But to an industry going through enormous changes, Hawaiian's future could offer one small sign of its overall health.