Hawaiian Airlines Inc. execs were suspicious when in 2005 Mesa Air Group, Inc., began offering low-cost interisland flights in the state. It was just over a year since Hawaiian and competitor Aloha Air had been in bankruptcy, and Mesa looked at both as potential acquisitions. Mesa’s CFO George Murnane had signed a nondisclosure agreement with Hawaiian, including provisions that the Arizona-based carrier would not, for at least two years, use any information gotten through due diligence “to obtain any competitive advantage,” should an acquisition not take place.
The Mesa flights “raised some questions in people’s minds of, ‘Gee, did they improperly use information [to set up their own airline]?’” says Hawaiian general counsel Hoyt Zia.
