Former Hawaiian Airlines chief executive Bruce Nobles has been retained as a consultant in the bankruptcy of Aloha Airlines.

Nobles, who served as Hawaiian's CEO from 1993 to 1997, is serving as a financial adviser to Aloha's creditors, said Ronald Orr, a Los Angeles-based attorney who has worked with Nobles in the past.

The longtime airline industry executive is credited with returning Hawaiian to profitability and for expanding its trans-Pacific service after the airline emerged from its first bankruptcy in 1994.

Nobles met yesterday with attorney Margery Bronster, who represents the airline's unsecured creditors' committee. Bronster declined comment.

Aloha spokesman Stu Glauberman also declined response.

Aloha, the state's No. 2 carrier, shut down its passenger service on March 31 and laid off 1,900 workers in the largest single-day mass firing the state has ever seen.

The closing — which Aloha blamed on soaring fuel prices and a grueling interisland fare war — came 11 days after the storied airline filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in about three years.

Even after stepping down as Hawaiian's CEO in 1997, Nobles has remained interested in running a local airline.

After Hawaiian filed for bankruptcy for a second time in 2003, Nobles teamed up with Boeing Capital Corp. and a Wyoming turnaround company, Corporate Recovery Group LLC, to bid for Hawaiian.

Hawaiian emerged from the second bankruptcy in June 2005 after it was acquired by San Diego-based Ranch Capital LLC.

Nobles' entry into the Aloha bankruptcy comes as company officials have raised the possibility of reviving Aloha.

In a hearing last week before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee hearing, Aloha Chief Executive Officer David Banmiller said he could still "hold out hope that investors would look at resurrecting Aloha's entire passenger operation in the future." But Banmiller cautioned that it would take a long shot to restore the carrier.

Aloha is attempting to sell its profitable cargo and contract services units, which continue to operate. The federal bankruptcy court will hold an auction for the cargo unit in San Francisco on Monday.