More than 200 current and former Aloha Airlines employees gathered outside of U.S, bankruptcy court this afternoon, grieving the end of 61 years of passenger service.

A handful of employees, however, held out hope for a miracle.

Wayne Wakeman, an Aloha pilot since 1989 and the speaker for a new group called Save Aloha, told the crowd, "I look at this as an interim shutdown just to stop the bleeding."

Dozens of employees, some of whom have spouses also employed by Hawai'i's second largest airline, said they were still stunned by the news of the closure and had not begun looking for new employment.

The federal Bankruptcy Court was to hold a hearing at 2 p.m. today on Aloha Airline's plan to shut down its passenger service.