Hawaiian Airlines said yesterday that the new interisland carrier go! hopes to drive one of Hawai'i's established airlines out of business by offering tickets at a loss.

Hawaiian attorney Bruce Bennett, speaking at a bankruptcy court hearing yesterday, accused go! and its Phoenix-based parent, Mesa Air Group, of attempting to reduce competition by targeting Aloha Airlines as it was emerging from bankruptcy protection last year.

"What Mesa has offered is a mirage," Bennett said. "They're losing money. They're pricing below cost, and they're trying to drive Aloha out of business." He added that, "Mesa wanted to put Aloha out of business and raise its fares once the market returns to a two-player market."

Jonathan Ornstein, Mesa's chief executive officer, denied that Mesa and go! are trying to drive out Aloha or any of its competitors. Ornstein said yesterday he has always envisioned having three major players in the interisland market.

Ornstein added that even if go! were to increase fares in the future, they'd still be much less than those charged by Aloha and Hawaiian prior to go!'s entry in the market.

"To me, Hawaiian is trying to divert everyone from the real issue, and the real issue is that Hawaiian historically has tried to quash its competition," Ornstein said. "They're determined to have us not compete with them."

Mesa launched interisland carrier go! on June 9 and triggered a fare war when it introduced $39 one-way interisland tickets on its first day of business. Both Hawaiian and Aloha matched the fare.

Since then, Mesa has dropped one-way fares as low as $29 on several occasions, prompting Aloha and Hawaiian to match each time it has announced a discount.

Aloha said in a news release yesterday that it was disappointed that Mesa "appears to have been unethical in dealing with Hawai'i's interisland market and has been trying to put us out of business for its own gain."

"We expect that airlines will compete fairly on a level playing field and it seems now that a new entrant is trying to unlevel that field," Aloha said.

Hawaiian's accusations relating to go! came at a hearing yesterday of a lawsuit Hawaiian filed in February. Hawaiian is suing Mesa alleging that Mesa improperly used confidential business data it received when Hawaiian was in bankruptcy.

Mesa was one of several potential suitors that expressed an interest in acquiring Hawaiian when it was in bankruptcy.

Hawaiian emerged from bankruptcy protection in June 2005 under the control of California-based Ranch Capital LLC.

As part of its suit, Hawaiian is seeking a court order barring Mesa from operating in the interisland market for a year.

Mesa denied that it used confidential information from Hawaiian to start go! The airline said it relied on public records that's readily available from agencies such as the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris said yesterday that he plans to rule shortly on the suit but did not say when he would do so.

Hawaiian's allegations regarding go!'s plan to put Aloha out of business are based on a series of e-mails that Hawaiian said it received under subpoena.

Hawaiian's attorney Bennett, who declined to provide copies of the e-mails, said several Sept. 15 electronic exchanges between Mesa Chief Financial Officer Peter Murnane and airline industry consultant Mo Garfinkle show that Mesa's business plan calls for Aloha's demise.

In one e-mail, Bennett quoted Murnane as saying: "If (Aloha) stays in business, then this project does not make sense. We definitely want to give them the last push."

Ornstein disputed Bennett's account, saying Murnane did not say that.

Mesa attorney Max Blecher added that Hawaiian's allegations are moot since Aloha emerged from bankruptcy protection in February under new ownership led by California billionaire Ron Burkle.

Reach Rick Daysog at rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com.