OST-98-3418 / Ost-98-3419 / US-Japan / Motion of Hawaiian to Stay Procedural Dates / February 9, 1998

Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. (hereinafter "Hawaiian") moves the Department of Transportation (hereinafter the "Department") to stay all procedural dates for new Japan authority for a period of twenty (20) days /1. Initial filings, if this Motion were granted, would be made no later than March 2, 1998. All other procedural date would be delayed by twenty (20) days.

In the alternative, Hawaiian moves to stay for a period of twenty (20) days, the deadline for applicants only seeking authority commencing in the year 2000 (the fifth designation).

1/ Hawaiian has been forced to file this Motion on such short notice because of the time schedule set forth in the Notice. Hawaiian has no objection to oral replies and indeed will volunteer to obtain carrier responses to the motion via telephone, if the Department so wishes.

calendar, and two (2) business, days later, on February 3, 1992 the Department issued the Notice announcing the signing of the MOC and establishing procedural dates for awarding the new, very valuable and scarce bilateral rights. That Notice required any interested carrier to file its initial application by February 10, 1998. This expedited application process requires carriers to consider a forty four (44) page MOC, determine what routes it may want, initiate and conclude negotiations for code-sharing agreements, if applicable, and file an application in ten (10) calendar -- just six (6) business -- days. For carriers such as American, Continental, Delta, Northwest and United, already in the market with established alliances in place, with staffs dedicated to the service and to planning for new opportunities, such a schedule may be acceptable. /2 Without more time, it will be virtually impossible for Hawaiian to put together a competitive application. It is hard enough for a small carrier to compete for these routes without having the Department establish structural disadvantages that make it impossible.

While Hawaiian recognizes that it has been common knowledge that the U.S./Japan talks have been ongoing for a number of years, the Department's rush to award these new opportunities prejudices small carriers like Hawaiian that do not have staff

2/ Indeed, for large airlines, such a schedule may be preferable because it disadvantages, or even excludes, new carrier competition for the routes.

positions that follow bilateral negotiations, planning staffs that spend their time dreaming of what might be or what the world should be like. Hawaiian, like all small carriers, must deal with the day-to-day realities of business, doing that which is before the carrier -- not what may be. Hawaiian does not have dedicated personnel to follow all bilateral negotiations on an ongoing basis, and a planning staff that would have alternative scenarios established no matter what the ultimate bilateral agreement may provide. Hawaiian cannot, by act of the Department, be de facto required to have that capability. The expedited selection process unfairly places small carriers at a disadvantage relative to carriers long established in the market.

Because of Hawaiian's physical location, its route structure and its extensive and long history of experience with the Japanese market, Hawaiian, under the right circumstance, is able to mount an attractive and winning application for service to Japan from the mainland or Honolulu, either directly or on a code-share basis. But to do so requires some reasonable time period for an experienced and able, but limited staff, to respond in a thoughtful and organized manner.

Hawaiian submits that it is blatantly unreasonable to ask that carriers generally, and smaller carriers particularly, respond to such an important opportunity in just six (6) business days.

Hawaiian's request Fill prejudice no one, allow all potential parties a sufficient period of time to consider and respond to this unique opportunity, and still result in the Department's selection of carriers in a timely -- indeed expedited -- fashion.

In the alternative, Hawaiian moves to stay for a period of twenty(20) days, the deadline for applicants seeking only authority commencing in the year 2000.

Respectfully submitted,

Jonathan B. Hill

Eric L. Tobias

Counsel for Hawaiian Airlines, Inc.

Dated: February 9, 1998