10-27-2009, 02:13 PM
If the pilots are hell-bent on striking, there are a number of actions that the Labor Department and the President can take to delay it. Given the fact that Hawaii's economy is dependent on interisland air travel and Hawaiian Air has a big preponderance of the interisland business, all the statutory "safety valve" delays would come into play. There is a limit to those delays, however, and if one side or the other refuses arbitration, a strike would eventually take place. I wouldn't count on go! to be able to accommodate more than a small fraction of Hawaiian's passengers, although I suppose their parent, Mesa, could bring in more planes and crews if a strike went on for very long. It would be a real mess in any case.