Aloha Airlines says it will keep flying after filing for bankruptcy

HONOLULU — Aloha Airlines has filed for bankruptcy protection again, a little more than two years after emerging from bankruptcy.

Aloha, which blames a competitor airline for "predatory pricing" for its current financial woes, said it will continue to fly as long as a bankruptcy court accepts its financial plan to keep operating. The airline, which flies between the Hawaiian islands and to the mainland U.S. (although not to Seattle), said it will honor current reservations and keep taking new ones.

In filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday, Aloha said it was unable to generate sufficient revenue due to what it called predatory pricing by Mesa Air Group Inc.'s go! airline.

Go! was launched in 2006 to compete with Aloha, as well as Hawaiian Airlines. In January, the budget airline reported a $20 million operating loss in its first 16 months of operations. Meanwhile, Aloha and Hawaiian reported combined losses of nearly $65 million since go! began flying.

Aloha said it was forced to match go!'s below-cost fares at a time when the airline industry was facing unprecedented increases in the cost of jet fuel.