The layoff of 98 workers at Hawaiian Airlines will cost its parent company between $1.5 million and $2 million this quarter because of severance pay owed the employees, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Hawaiian Holdings Inc., owner of the Honolulu-based airline, said it will incur severance-related costs during the quarter ending next month. Beyond that, the move is likely to save the company $3 million to $4 million annually, the filing said.

Hawaiian Airlines Thursday announced it was letting go 98 nonunion employees and cutting an additional 38 vacant positions. Hawaiian lost $40.6 million last year, in part because of the launch of go! airlines, which is trying to take part of the interisland passenger market.

Hawaiian said the cuts would make its management structure leaner and adjust its resources to meet customers' needs.

The layoffs include 47 of the company's 224 management positions.

None of the airline's roughly 3,000 unionized workers were cut, and about 40 percent of the layoffs were on the Mainland. Areas losing workers include sales and marketing and customer service.

Founded in 1929, Hawaiian is the state's oldest and biggest carrier, with 3,493 employees after the cuts. A new group of owners led by California-based Ranch Capital LLC took over the company as it emerged from bankruptcy in 2005.

The layoffs at Hawaiian come as many of the nation's largest carriers have expanded staffing as they return to profitability after the post-Sept. 11 downturn. That downturn cost the industry as many as 100,000 jobs.

Hawaiian Holdings' shares rose 10 cents to close at $3.75 yesterday on the American Stock Exchange.