Island Air is currently in discussion with Yucaipa Cos. to purchase the rights to the Aloha Airline name. Yuciapa had purchase the Aloha name for $1.5 million in 2010 as part of Aloha's liquidation. Island Air was purchased in February 2013 by billionaire Larry Ellison, who also owns 97 percent of the island of Lanai.
Bruce Nobles, the former CEO of Hawaiian Airlines from 1994 to 1997, thought that the possible name change would be a very interesting one. Nobles stated, "It has its pluses and minuses. The pluses would be there was a lot of loyalty, a lot of people were strongly tied to Aloha and liked Aloha, and a lot of people in the marketplace fondly remember the name. So if you could take advantage of that, if it still exists, that obviously would be a powerful positive. On the other hand, the company went into bankruptcy twice, failed, shut down, and a lot of people lost their jobs. Those are not things that people like to remember."
Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 8-4-2013, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, REALTOR®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
www.myhawaiihomesearch.com
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