Mesa Air's $52.5 million settlement with Hawaiian wins approval

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 5, 2008 | by Erik Larson Bloomberg News

Mesa Air Group Inc. has won a judge's approval to pay $52.5 million to Hawaiian Airlines Inc. to settle claims Mesa misused confidential information obtained in bankruptcy court to launch a competings carrier.

The accord was approved this past week by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris in Honolulu. Under the deal, Mesa will drop its appeal of an $80 million damage award issued in October after Faris ruled that Mesa used passenger and ticket-pricing data from Hawaiian's 2003 bankruptcy case to start Go!, an island- hopping competitor.

The cash payment will be made under a $90 million bond posted by Mesa after it appealed the damage award, the companies said. Phoenix- based Mesa said it will get back $37.5 million of the bond, which was released by Faris.

Hawaiian, based in Honolulu, accused Mesa officials of posing as investors in bankruptcy court to gain access to the information and use it for the 2006 launch of Go!. Mesa's use of the information breached a confidentiality agreement the company signed to view the data, Hawaiian claimed.