go! is a regional brand of Mesa Airlines based in Honolulu, Hawaii, which operates interisland services within Hawaii. Its main base is Honolulu International Airport. It is a division within the Mesa Airlines subsidiary of Mesa Air Group and its flights are operated by Mesa Airlines.

History

Regional carrier Mesa Airlines started go!'s inter-island operations on June 9, 2006, using five Bombardier CRJ-200 regional jet aircraft.

In September 2006, the airline announced that it had reached an agreement with Mokulele Airlines, whereby Mokulele would operate Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft to Kapalua, 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 06, 2007.

Lawsuits over formation

In February 2006, before the airline had started flying, Hawaiian Airlines filed a complaint for injunctive relief. In its complaint, Hawaiian Airlines notes 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 alleges 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 "raises 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 forwarders 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 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 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 30th 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 13th, Faris denied the request on the basis that new evidence wouldn't likely change the outcome of the trial, and the airline plans to proceed with its appeal of the decision to US District Court. On April 30, 2008, the two airlines announced a settlement had been reached whereby Mesa would withdraw its appeal of the judgement and would pay Hawaiian $52.5 million.

FAA investigation

The Federal Aviation Administration opened an investigation whether two go! pilots fell asleep during a 36 minute flight between Honolulu and Hilo. Flight 1002 on February 13, 2008, overshot Hilo Airport by 15 miles, remaining 21,000 feet in the air as they 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

go!

Mesa Airlines operates flights on behalf of go! to the following destinations:

Hawaii

• Hilo (Hilo International Airport)
• Honolulu (Honolulu International Airport) Hub
• Kahului (Kahului Airport)
• Kona (Kona International Airport)
• Lihue (Lihue Airport)

go! Express

Mokulele Airlines operates flights as go! Express to the following destinations:

Hawaii

• Honolulu (Honolulu International Airport)
• Kahului (Kahului Airport)
• Kapalua (Kapalua Airport)
• Kona (Kona International Airport)
• Molokai (Molokai Airport)
• Lanai (Lanai Airport)

Fleet

As of April 2007, the go! fleet consists of the following aircraft:

go! Airlines Fleet

Aircraft	Total	Passengers (Economy)	Routes
Bombardier CRJ200	5	50	Inter-Island

As of April 2007, go!'s average fleet age was 7 years old.

The airline has delayed plans to order eight to twelve larger aircraft, either the Bombardier CRJ900 or Embraer 195, to replace the CRJ200s.

go! Miles

Each flight on go! earns 500 miles in the airline's go! Miles program. Upon accruing 5,000 miles, the participant is awarded one one-way segment on go!.

References

External links

• go!