Hawaiian Airlines’ Unions to Vote on 5-Year Contracts

The Newport Beach investor group bidding for ailing Hawaiian Airlines said Wednesday that it has reached tentative agreement with all of the carrier’s unions on new five-year contracts that call for wage freezes in the first 36 months.

Approval of the contracts by the carrier’s pilots, flight attendants, machinists and other union workers in votes scheduled for this week would clear the way for the completion of the sale of HAL Inc., the airline’s holding company. The buyer is a group headed by attorney J. Thomas Talbot and former baseball Commissioner Peter V. Ueberroth.

The buyout, which calls for the payment of $22 a share for at least 51% of the airline holding company’s stock--at a total cost of $22 million--is contingent on the unions agreeing to wage and working-condition concessions.

Holder Approval Needed

As of Wednesday, Talbot said in a telephone interview, outside shareholders have tendered 233,000 shares, and the HAL board has agreed to sell 1.1 million shares to his group, HAL Acquisition Inc, giving it control of 68% of the holding company’s 1,953,000 shares.

A subsidiary of Japan Air Lines holds a 20% stake in HAL through the purchase last year of a large block of preferred stock. The Talbot group has not said whether it will also try to acquire those shares. At $22 a share, buying all outstanding shares would cost $43 million.

The acquisition also is contingent on the Talbot group securing financing and on the approval of existing HAL shareholders. The holders are scheduled to meet Oct. 23. Talbot declined to discuss the financing arrangements but said they are expected to be in place Friday after the unions vote.

To accommodate the union ratification votes on the new contracts, HAL Acquisition has extended the deadline for its tender offer until midnight Tuesday, and Talbot said the deadline is likely to be extended through Oct. 23 if the unions accept the agreements.