Charlie Kirk’s passing now poses the same challenge for TPUSA: can an organization built on his energy adapt to new leadership, or will it remain frozen as a reflection of its founder?
Turning Hawaiian’s story into a morality play might make for easy headlines, but it does little justice to the reality. The airline wasn’t blindsided by its own arrogance — it was sideswiped by Covid, by Hawaii’s own prolonged shutdowns, by Japan’s deep and ongoing economic struggles. To say it “failed” because it didn’t copy Alaska is to confuse hindsight with analysis.
The state continues to seek applications for services and award contracts. But the level of trust any vendor might have in the State to “pay its bills on time” is increasingly strained, especially after revelations like this one, where once again, a contractor had to secure a loan just to keep operations going due to delayed payments.
As Hawaii transitions out of the holiday season and into the new year, Politics Hawaii with Stan Fichtman was once again featured on KHON 2 News, sharing insights (or mana’o) on the key issues to watch in 2025.
On Wednesday evening, May 22, 2024, the Politics Hawaii with Stan Fichtman blog formally discontinued any further use of “X” (formally known as Twitter).
“What If” Hawaiian Airlines have grown to something bigger than itself if it took the growth model of Alaska Airlines, over a long period?
Indeed, if you go back in the history of Hawai‘i aviation and the issues of ownership and who operated, the mere fact that an airline that was not “Hawai‘i based” came in to buy a “Hawai‘i based airline” that didn’t elicit an immediate hearing in the State Capitol on the merits of it told me that, indeed, the relationship between the people of Hawai‘i, its government officials, and its aviation options, has very much changed.
So, to Oprah Winfrey, Politics Hawaii suggests that you don’t take the offer to go to Washington. Stay in Hawaiʻi, stay in Maui, the return on investment is better.