Hawaiian Airlines Plans to Cut Costs by Laying Off 200

HONOLULU — Hawaiian Airlines, which has agreed to be taken over by a Newport Beach investor group, said it will reduce its work force by about 200 employees after Jan. 1, 1990, in order to cut costs.

Hawaiian Airlines Chief Executive Officer John Magoon Jr. said Wednesday that the layoffs will total just under 7% of the company’s total work force and will include both full-time and part-time workers.

“We’re taking these steps to reduce operating expenses, create a more efficient workplace and improve the airline’s competitive position,” Magoon said.

The airline’s parent company, HAL, has scheduled a stockholder vote in two weeks on a takeover bid by an investor group headed by Newport Beach attorney J. Thomas Talbot and former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth.

Magoon said the company hoped that it could rehire many of the workers as the airline’s operating results improve.

Assistant General Chairman Sam Poomaihealani of the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 141 said the cutbacks are scheduled for Jan. 2 and 8 and would involve 200 to 242 employees.