Free Republic

Aloha Airlines said Sunday it will halt all passenger service after Monday, signaling the end of an airline that has served Hawaii for more than 60 years. Aloha, which filed for bankruptcy for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 20, was a casualty of fierce competition and rising fuel prices. The airline said it will stop taking reservations for flights after Monday. We simply ran out of time to find a qualified buyer or secure continued financing for our passenger business," said Aloha President David Banmiller in a statement. "We had no choice but to take this action." Aloha has...

HONOLULU - When Patti Smart was hired as an Aloha Airlines stewardess 50 years ago, it was a different job for a different time. She rubbed elbows with Frank Sinatra, performed in-flight fashion shows and danced in smoke-filled aisles aboard cramped DC-3s seating two dozen passengers. Smart, nicknamed the "Queen of Aloha," retires Friday after more than a half-century on the job she started when she was 18 years old. A lot has changed since the old days, when people dressed up in hats and bow ties to fly on propeller-powered planes across the Pacific. "You're supposed to have the...