Aloha Airlines eliminates 12 manager positions
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
Aloha Airlines, citing soaring fuel costs, has eliminated approximately 12 top management positions and frozen 35 open positions.
The restructuring was announced to employees last week and will go into effect by the end of the year. It comes as Aloha also plans to discontinue service to the Marshall Islands and American Samoa, effective next month.
"Like other airlines, Aloha is facing challenging times as the entire industry feels the financial impact of soaring fuel prices," Aloha spokesman Stu Glauberman said in a statement yesterday. "Aloha is making tough decisions to reduce costs."
The moves follow the selection of David A. Banmiller, a top executive with Air Jamaica, to replace Glenn Zander as president and CEO. Banmiller took over Aloha on Nov. 14.
Zander, who resigned to help care for his ailing wife, remains vice chairman of the board of Aloha's parent company, Aloha Airgroup Inc.
Privately held Aloha Airlines reported in September that it lost $963,000 in the second quarter of the year — its third straight quarterly loss. The company said at the time that it had been hit with a 37.6 percent increase in fuel costs.
Aloha has yet to report its third-quarter financial results.
The company was founded in 1946 and has a workforce of 3,700. Aloha operates approximately 620 interisland flights per week and 140 weekly transpacific flights.
Aloha has announced that it will add daily non-stop service to San Diego beginning Wednesday.
Last week, however, Aloha officials said flights to the Marshall Islands and American Samoa were not generating sufficient revenue to cover operating expenses. Aloha will make its last flight to the Marshall Islands on Jan. 10. Aloha's final Pago Pago flight will be on Jan. 12.
"The airline did its best to be responsive to island communities in the remote Pacific region but can no longer use valuable assets with a consistently negative return," Banmiller said at the time.
Glauberman said senior management officials are out of town and unavailable for comment.
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8085.
