Death of an Another Airline

Now that Aloha Airlines has closed its doors and parked its airplanes for good, it seems like 1991 all over again to me. That’s the year the airline I worked for, Midway 1, shut down because of high fuel prices – at least they seemed high then – and some silly management decisions. Eastern and Pan Am fell silent around the same time.

Some 2,000 people lost their livelihoods in Hawaii yesterday when Aloha ceased service. Here’s a photo a Jetwhine reader shot yesterday, probably one of the last of any of these old Boeing 737-200s flying I bet.

I can only say that I know what those Aloha employees are feeling … something akin to having been kicked hard in the stomach by someone you thought was a friend.

Everyone flying today should take a minute and think how their own lives would change if this happened to them. Maybe a better question is what can be done now, before your airline shuts down for good.

Aloha folks.

Rob Mark, editor