Few folks at the interisland terminal at Honolulu International Airport were aware that Aloha Airlines had filed for bankruptcy late yesterday afternoon. But as the news slowly made its way through the building, people seemed startled and reactions were varied.

"That sucks," said University of Hawai'i senior Koren Takeyama, 22, who was checking her bag to fly to Maui when she heard the word. "This means prices will go up and flight availability will be difficult because there's only going to be Hawaiian Airlines and go! Service will suffer, so everything will be worse."

Takeyama said if Aloha had gone out of business yesterday it would have meant she'd be stranded on O'ahu during spring break because nothing else was available.

"And that would not have been good," she said.

When told that his company had just filed for Chapter 11, one Aloha customer service agent got wide-eyed and exclaimed, "Again? And nobody told us?"

The agent, who wouldn't give his name for fear of reprisal, wondered aloud if he might be the last to know — that perhaps a bulletin or notice had appeared somewhere that had slipped past him. But when his supervisor told him he hadn't known either, the agent appeared nonplussed, though not particularly surprised.

"The last time they did this, we weren't notified until after the newspaper found out," he said. And then, trying to put the whole thing in a more positive light, added, "We've been through this before, and nothing that much happened."

Meanwhile, his supervisor refused to comment at all.

"We can't say anything," he said more than once.

Over at Hawaiian Airlines word of the Aloha bankruptcy didn't generate the same cause for alarm. Informed of what had happened, a Hawaiian baggage claim agent and an assistant shrugged, exchanged a "whatevers" glance and announced in unison, "That's news to us."

"Considering the current economy and the price of fuel, I don't know if they'll make it this time," said the older of the two men, who wouldn't give his name because, he said, "Actually, we're not allowed to make comments."

Then he added, "You know, we've been through the wars before ourselves."

Hawaiian Airlines filed for bankruptcy in 2003 and emerged from court protection in 2005.

Like airline employees elsewhere in the terminal, a go! ticket agent told a reporter that it was against company policy for him to make a statement about Aloha's restructuring plans. Thus, he couldn't speak about it or give his name. However, when he was told Aloha had said the bankruptcy action was taken largely because of go! and that airline's undercutting airfares, the agent shook his head and laughed out loud.

"They're blaming us?" he said. "That's a bunch of baloney! That's all nothing but propaganda."

Back at the Aloha departures waiting area, Native Hawaiian couple Noni and Ray Causey of Kailua, who were about to board a plane to Kona to spend Easter with relatives, found nothing amusing in Aloha's predicament. If Aloha were to go out of business, the two said, they'd be hard-pressed to travel to the Neighbor Islands.

"We love Aloha Airlines," said Noni Causey, as Ray nodded in agreement. "They're always on time and they have the best service. We've flown with them for years."

The couple said Hawaiian Airline's outsourcing of customer services "to someplace where they can't understand what you're saying and you can't understand them" had put them off so much that they vowed never to travel on that airline again.

"I have no idea how we'd get around if Aloha went away," Noni Causey said. "The last time this happened at Aloha they didn't disrupt service. I hope maybe that will be the case again."

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.