Aloha committee decries cargo business stalking horse bid, asks court to reset sale dates

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, April 22 - Aloha Airlines, Inc.'s official committee of unsecured creditors objected to the company's proposed sale of its air cargo business and asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Hawaii to set new dates for bidding, auction and sale approval, according to a Monday court filing.

According to the objection, stalking horse bidder Saltchuk Resources, Inc. first contacted Aloha about 10 days before the bid procedures motion was filed, although the company had never attempted to market their assets separately before that and had only attempted to obtain an equity investor or purchaser for the company as a whole.

In addition, the committee said the Saltchuk purchase agreement includes a transition provision that puts nearly one-third of the proposed purchase price at risk.

The committee said the company also has "no idea what costs they will be required to incur to close the sale."

"The debtors' uncertainty is no accident," the committee said in the objection. "The final terms of the deal are not actually set."

Also, the committee said "the bidding procedures have chilled the bidding process and do not maximize the value of the estate's assets."

The committee also said the company unilaterally shut down all of its passenger operations without consulting the committee, and "there has been no active marketing to restart the service since its shutdown."

Aloha, a Honolulu-based airline, filed for bankruptcy on March 20. Its Chapter 11 case number is 08-00337.

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