Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
was a regional brand of Phoenix, Arizona-based
Mesa Airlines
Mesa Airlines, Inc., is an American regional airline based in Phoenix, Arizona. It is an FAA Part 121–certificated air carrier operating under air carrier certificate number MASA036A issued on June 29, 1979. It is a subsidiary of Mesa Air ...
. Go! operated inter-island services within Hawaii. Its main base was
Honolulu International Airport
Daniel K. Inouye International Airport , also known as Honolulu International Airport, is the main airport of Oahu, Hawaii. It was a division within the Mesa Airlines subsidiary of
Mesa Air Group
Mesa Air Group, Inc. is a Nevada Corporation commercial aviation holding company with headquarters in Suite 700 at 410 North 44th Street in the Camelback East area of Phoenix, Arizona, United States. The company operates one regional airline su ...
and its flights were operated by Mesa Airlines. The airline ceased operations in Hawaii on April 1, 2014. The company slogan was ''Hawaii's Low Fare Airline.''
History
Regional carrier Mesa Airlines started Go!'s inter-island operations on June 9, 2006, using five Bombardier
CRJ-200
The Bombardier CRJ100 and CRJ200 (previously Canadair CRJ100 and CRJ200) is a regional jet designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace between 1991 and 2006, the first of the Bombardier CRJ family.
The ''Canadair Regional Jet'' (CRJ) pro ...
regional jet aircraft.
In September 2006, the airline announced that it had reached an agreement with
Mokulele Airlines
Southern Airways Express, doing business as Mokulele Airlines, is an American commuter airline operating in Hawaii. The airline operates scheduled inter-island and charter flights among all Hawaiian islands with airports. Mokulele Airlines was ...
Kapalua
Kapalua is a census-designated place (CDP) in Maui County, Hawaii, United States. A resort development by the Maui Land & Pineapple Company extends inland from Kapalua Bay and Honolua Bay. The population was 495 at the 2020 census.
Geography ...
, Molokai, and Lanai under the name Go!Express. Service began with flights from Kapalua to Honolulu, Kahului, and Kona on April 17, 2007. Service began for flights to Molokai on July 21, 2007 and flights to Lanai on October 6, 2007. Following Mokulele's agreement with
Republic Airways Holdings
Republic Airways Holdings, Inc. is an American airline holding corporation based in Indianapolis, Indiana, that owns Republic Airways, an American regional airline operating in the United States, and LIFT Academy, the only flight training acade ...
to have that company operate flights in Hawaii using 70-seat jets, Mesa announced that it would be terminating the Go!Express agreement with Mokulele in April 2009. The airline later accelerated plans to terminate the agreement with Mokulele, and ended the code-share on March 24, 2009, replacing it with a new agreement with Island Air that allowed Mesa to sell existing Island Air flights with the Go!Express name.
On March 17, 2014, Mesa announced that Go! would cease service on April 1, 2014, with its aircraft re-deployed to support Mesa's operations on the U.S. mainland. The airline also stated that a long term increase in the cost of fuel had prevented the operation from being profitable.
Lawsuits over formation
In February 2006, before the airline had started flying,
Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian Airlines ( haw, Hui Mokulele o Hawaiʻi ) is the largest operator of commercial flights to and from the U.S. state of Hawaii. It is the tenth-largest commercial airline in the United States, and is based at Honolulu, Hawaii. The airl ...
filed a complaint for injunctive relief. In its complaint, Hawaiian Airlines noted that Mesa Air Group had been a potential investor during Hawaiian's Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and as such, had access to confidential business data that it alleged Mesa then used in developing Go!. Hawaiian claimed that the confidentiality agreement under which potential investors were given access to the data prohibited the use of that information to compete with Hawaiian for a period of two years.
In a memo explaining his decision to rule against Hawaiian's request for a preliminary injunction, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris wrote that e-mail made public during Hawaiian Airlines lawsuit raised "real doubts about the propriety of Mesa's conduct."
In March 2006, Mesa filed a counter suit, claiming that Hawaiian was violating antitrust law by trying to keep Mesa out of Hawaii, using legal maneuvers to prevent Mesa from offering fares below the prevailing fares offered by Hawaiian. Mesa also alleged that Hawaiian had coerced two
freight forwarder
A freight forwarder, or forwarding agent, is a person or company who, for a fee organizes shipments for individuals or corporations to get goods from the manufacturer or producer to a market, customer or final point of distribution.
s into refusing parts and equipment Mesa wanted to ship to Hawaii for the new airline. Faris dismissed the counter suit on December 8, 2006, and at that time set an opening trial date on September 25, 2007.
In October 2006,
Aloha Airlines
Aloha Airlines was an American airline headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, operating from a hub at Honolulu International Airport (now Daniel K. Inouye International Airport). Operations began on July 26, 1946, and ceased operations on March 3 ...
parent Aloha Airgroup filed a lawsuit similar to Hawaiian's, claiming that Mesa received confidential information during Aloha's Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and improperly used it to enter the Hawaii inter-island market with the intent of driving Aloha out of business.
On March 20, 2008, Aloha Airlines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Citing record high fuel prices and inter-island competition with Go!, it ceased passenger operation 11 days later.
As the trial date approached, it became known that Mesa's chief financial officer, George "Peter" Murnane III, had e-mailed an acquaintance about a week after Hawaiian filed suit, first asking for information about how to delete files in such a way that they could not be discovered, then confirming that the files in question were deleted. Mesa placed Murnane on paid administrative leave on September 22, 2007. Hawaiian contended that Murnane deleted the files maliciously in an attempt to destroy evidence that would show that Mesa improperly used confidential data. Mesa contended that Murnane accidentally deleted the files in question in an attempt to remove
pornographic
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,
material from his computer.
On September 27, in a pretrial hearing, Faris preliminarily ruled that Mesa had misused confidential information in setting up Go!, and failed to return or destroy confidential data acquired during the bankruptcy proceedings. "The misuse was a substantial factor in Mesa's decision on entering the Hawaii market," said Faris. Faris, however, deferred any decision on damages pending the outcome of the trial, saying it still needed to be decided whether the information existed in the public domain. Following the hearing which lasted from September 28 to October 4, Faris ruled on October 30 that Mesa had misused the confidential information and ordered Mesa to pay Hawaiian $80 million, while rejecting Hawaiian's request to bar Go! from selling tickets for one year. Following the ruling, Mesa requested a retrial claiming it had recovered the previously lost evidence on a third hard drive. On December 13, Faris denied the request on the basis that new evidence would likely not change the outcome of the trial, and the airline planned to proceed with its appeal of the decision to
US District Court
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
. On April 30, 2008, the two airlines announced a settlement had been reached whereby Mesa would withdraw its appeal of the judgment and would pay Hawaiian $52.5 million.
Attempted Name Change to Aloha
On November 28, 2008, Go!'s parent company, Mesa Air Group, announced that it had reached an agreement with Yucaipa Cos., the former majority holder of
Aloha Airlines
Aloha Airlines was an American airline headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, operating from a hub at Honolulu International Airport (now Daniel K. Inouye International Airport). Operations began on July 26, 1946, and ceased operations on March 3 ...
, to settle Aloha's lawsuit. Among the terms of the agreement was that Yucaipa would license the Aloha Airlines name to Mesa, which would rebrand the Go! operation as Aloha Airlines. While Yucaipa was the successful high bidder for the rights to Aloha's name, bankruptcy judge Lloyd King temporarily blocked the deal and postponed a hearing on the deal until February 19, in order to give supporters and opponents time to respond. On March 3, 2009, bankruptcy judge Lloyd King blocked the sale of Aloha's name and brand on the grounds that the auction was not public and must be reheld. On May 14, 2009, he blocked Mesa from rebranding Go! as Aloha.
Name change to Go! Mokulele
In October 2009, Mesa Air Group and
Republic Airways Holdings
Republic Airways Holdings, Inc. is an American airline holding corporation based in Indianapolis, Indiana, that owns Republic Airways, an American regional airline operating in the United States, and LIFT Academy, the only flight training acade ...
merged their competing subsidiaries, Go! and
Mokulele Airlines
Southern Airways Express, doing business as Mokulele Airlines, is an American commuter airline operating in Hawaii. The airline operates scheduled inter-island and charter flights among all Hawaiian islands with airports. Mokulele Airlines was ...
, into a joint venture,
go! Mokulele
go! Mokulele was an American business marketing inter-island flights within the state of Hawaii. The airline was a joint venture between Mesa Airlines and Mokulele Flight Services formed in October 2009 when the companies merged their competi ...
. Mesa's CRJ-200 aircraft continued to operate jet service, supplemented by Mokulele's
Cessna 208
The Cessna 208 Caravan is a utility aircraft produced by Cessna.
The project was commenced on November 20, 1981, and the prototype first flew on December 9, 1982.
The production model was certified by the FAA in October 1984 and its Cargo ...
Grand Caravan turboprop aircraft.
Embraer 170
The Embraer E-Jet family is a series of four-abreast narrow-body short- to medium-range twin-engine jet airliners designed and produced by the Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer.
The E-Jet was designed as a complement to the preceding E ...
aircraft, operated on behalf of Mokulele by Republic subsidiary
Shuttle America
Shuttle America Corporation was an American regional airline based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. It fed United Airlines flights at Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) and Houston Intercontinental Airport (IAH) under the United Express bra ...
, were removed from Hawaii service. Mesa maintained a 75% stake in the joint venture, with Republic holding the remaining 25%.
Mokulele aircraft remained on the Mokulele operating certificate, while the go! Mokulele aircraft remained on the
Mesa Airlines
Mesa Airlines, Inc., is an American regional airline based in Phoenix, Arizona. It is an FAA Part 121–certificated air carrier operating under air carrier certificate number MASA036A issued on June 29, 1979. It is a subsidiary of Mesa Air ...
operating certificate.
During the concluding months of 2011 it was announced the complete divestiture of the Mokulele Airlines turboprop operations from Mesa Air Group's joint venture with Republic Airways Holdings. In June 2012, Mesa began the process of dropping the "go! Mokulele" name and reverting to "go!".
2008 incident and investigation
The
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...
opened an investigation into whether two Go! pilots fell asleep during a 36-minute flight between
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
and Hilo. Flight 1002 on February 13, 2008, overshot Hilo Airport by 30 miles, remaining 21,000 feet in the air as it missed the destination. Air traffic controllers were unable to reach the two pilots for 25 minutes, after which contact was re-established and the aircraft returned for a safe landing in Hilo. The pilots were later fired over the incident. On September 24, 2008 the FAA announced that the licences of both pilots had been suspended. The Captain had his suspended for 60 days, while the First Officer had his suspended for 45 days. No action was taken against Go Airlines because sufficient rest was provided for both crew members prior to the flight. During the investigations, however, it was found that the Captain in fact suffered from a sleep disorder known as severe obstructive sleep apnea. This is a condition that causes a person to stop breathing intermittently during sleep, thus preventing a full night's rest.
Destinations
Mesa Airlines
Mesa Airlines, Inc., is an American regional airline based in Phoenix, Arizona. It is an FAA Part 121–certificated air carrier operating under air carrier certificate number MASA036A issued on June 29, 1979. It is a subsidiary of Mesa Air ...
operated flights on behalf of Go! to the following destinations:
Hilo International Airport
Hilo International Airport , formerly General Lyman Field, is an international airport located in Hilo, Hawaii County, Hawaii. Owned and operated by the Hawaii state Department of Transportation, it is one of two major airports on Hawaii Island ...
)
**
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
(
Honolulu International Airport
Daniel K. Inouye International Airport , also known as Honolulu International Airport, is the main airport of Oahu, Hawaii.Kahului
Kahului () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Maui County in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It hosts the county's main airport (Kahului Airport), deep-draft harbor, light industrial areas, and commercial shopping centers. The population was 26,337 ...
(
Kahului Airport
Kahului Airport is the main airport of Maui in the State of Hawaii, United States, located east of Kahului. It has offered full airport operations since 1952. Most flights into Kahului Airport originate from Daniel K. Inouye International Ai ...
Lihue Airport
Lihue Airport is a state-owned public-use airport located in the Līhue CDP on the southeast coast of the island of Kauai in Kauai County, Hawaii, United States, two nautical miles east of the center of the CDP.
The airport does not serve as ...
)
Fleet
As of October 2012, the Go! fleet consisted of the following aircraft.
As of October 2012, Go!'s average fleet age was 13.2 years.
The airline had delayed plans to order eight to twelve larger aircraft, either the
Bombardier CRJ900
The Bombardier CRJ700, CRJ900, and CRJ1000 are a family of regional jet airliners that were designed and manufactured by Canadian transportation conglomerate Bombardier (formerly Canadair) between 1999 and 2020. Their design was derived from t ...
or
Embraer 195
The Embraer E-Jet family is a series of four-abreast narrow-body short- to medium-range twin-engine jet airliners designed and produced by the Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer.
The E-Jet was designed as a complement to the preceding E ...
, to replace the CRJ200s.
Go! Miles
Each flight on Go! earned 500 miles in the airline's Go! Miles program. Upon accruing 5,000 miles, the participant was awarded one one-way segment on Go!.
Incidents and accidents
* Go! Flight 1002 missed its airport and flew beyond for 15 minutes (26 nautical miles) after its pilots fell asleep in the cockpit, on 13 February 2008. The
Canadair CRJ-200
The Bombardier CRJ100 and CRJ200 (previously Canadair CRJ100 and CRJ200) is a regional jet designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace between 1991 and 2006, the first of the Bombardier CRJ family.
The ''Canadair Regional Jet'' (CRJ) pro ...
List of defunct airlines of the United States
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...