Although Mokulele Airlines President and CEO Bill Boyer insisted to Regional Aviation News that it would continue as a go! Express, Hawaii’s KHON reported that Mesa Air Group CEO Jonathan Ornstein is seething over Mokulele’s new deal with Republic Airways Holdings which puts it into competition with go!. Related Story
Ornstein was reportedly blindsided by the new deal. "This was a partner of ours, this is a guy who sat at my table who knew my family who came to my house for parties," Ornstein told KHON. "He owes us almost $400 dollars for example for fuel he hasn't paid for that we fronted him. Here's a guy that when we met had never flown in schedule service, we put him into business, our brand, our marketing, our technology, our money and he sort of built up his business and decided to I guess--I presume effectively abandon our franchise.”
KHON suggested the Mokulele action is a lesson in what goes around comes around. Airline Analyst Peter Forman noted that Mesa’s actions against Hawaiian and Aloha in which it offered financing and then used confidential information to position itself to complete with the two Hawaiian carriers, makes any complaints against Mokulele weak. Mesa lost a lawsuit brought by Hawaiian Airlines charging breach of a confidentiality agreement and is facing a similar suit by Aloha which was forced out of business with the competition by go! and high fuel prices.