honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 4:08 p.m., Monday, November 5, 2007

Mesa Air Group fires embattled CFO Murnane

Rick Daysog
Advertiser Staff Writer

The parent of go! airline today fired its embattled Chief Financial Officer Peter Murnane, a key figure in the legal battle between go!'s parent company and Hawaiian Airlines.

Last week, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris ordered Mesa Air Group, the parent of go!, to pay Hawaiian $80 million for misusing confidential business information to launch go! in 2006.

Faris said that Murnane destroyed hundreds of pages of confidential records that would have shown that Mesa misappropriated the Hawaiian records.

Mesa said that Murnane had mistakenly erased the data when he was deleting pornographic material on his work computers.

Murnane, who was placed on leave in September, could not be reached but his attorney Brook Hart called the events "unfortunate" and that Murnane regrets his actions.

Mesa said it plans to appeal Faris' decision.

Shares of Phoenix-based Mesa dropped 10 cents to $4.54 on the Nasdaq market today.