Out of 288 eligible pilots, 120 voted for the new contract and 144 voted it down.

The voting took place over a week and concluded yesterday morning. But all week, pilots were grumbling about a new contract that would increase salaries 1 percent, require them to pay a share of their medical coverage and put the security of their retirement benefits in doubt.

Several pilots said they were particularly angry that, according to the pilots, Hawaiian's 80 managers recently received part of $7 million in bonuses that had previously been approved by the bankruptcy court.

Hawaiian officials declined to confirm yesterday whether the bonuses had been paid.

"There was a lot of outrage over the management bonuses," said Hawaiian Capt. Kirk McBride, chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association International's master executive committee for Hawaiian. "My understanding is that the company needed to pay those bonuses by March 15 so it would count against the company's books for the year 2004."

A pilots union's statement on the vote said the pilots "were unwilling to ratify the contract due to several reasons including excessive management bonuses ... and their concern that management does not have a genuine interest in constructive problem-solving and smooth employee relations."

Gotbaum said in a statement he was disappointed in the pilots' decision to turn down "a contract that was better than any proposal made by any airline to its pilots in the last two years."

The contract would have made Hawaiian pilots "among the very best paid in the industry" and would have kept the pension plan in place in its current form for seven years, according to the airline.

The pilots argued that if the airline is strong enough to pay executives bonuses, it's strong enough to offer more to pilots.

"Management feels like they can skim off what they want, while they leave us hanging on the short end of the stick," said John von Zedtwitz, a Hawaiian 767-300 captain. "At a time of record profits, they're taking advantage of us. It's been a threat all through bankruptcy to literally dissect our contract and leave us with much less than what we deserve."

Pat Tregnan, a 767-300 first officer, said the management bonuses were part of the reason pilots have "reached our threshold. We've watched too many owners come in and then go, leaving us with nothing."

Hawaiian pilots can earn between $38,800 and $176,000 per year depending on experience and the planes they fly, McBride said.

The new contract would have boosted pilot pay 1 percent. But pilots said fairness, health benefits and pension contributions were the key issues, rather than pay.

"The creditors are getting paid off 100 percent," Tregnan said. "Management gets their bonuses and everybody else gets what they want. Why is it that the people who work for the airline are getting the stick?"

American Airlines angered employees in 2003 when it quietly set aside millions of dollars for executive pensions and bonuses while asking for $1.8 billion in wage and other concessions per year from union members.

American's then-chairman and CEO, Donald J. Carty, later apologized for not telling workers sooner about the executive benefits. Carty, who resigned during the fallout, now sits on the board of Hawaiian Holdings, Hawaiian's parent company.

RC Aviation LLC, the company hoping to take Hawaiian out of bankruptcy, has attached the condition to its offer that all of Hawaiian's six unions must renegotiate contracts. The pilots are now the last unionized employees without a contract. None of the contracts goes into effect until all of them are in place.

Yesterday, several pilots said they would prefer to place their hopes for a new contract with Judge Faris.

Even though Faris earlier told both sides he might reach a decision that neither one likes, Hawaiian Capt. Joe Mocarski said he hoped "for a better shake from Judge Faris. He knows that we're being asked to take concessions in the face of record profits."

As von Zedtwitz said, "we're coming out of bankruptcy with a healthy company. I don't think Judge Faris is willing to use a hammer on us."