Hawaiian Air Gets Loan to Keep It Going a Year : Airlines: Its lender, Security Pacific, agrees to more money. The ailing carrier defaulted the last time out.

Hawaiian Airlines, the troubled carrier that is part-owned by former baseball commissioner Peter V. Ueberroth, said its lender has agreed to give it enough money to keep it going for another year.

The airline said late Friday that Security Pacific Bank agreed in concept to a plan that would give Hawaiian additional funds and bring it out of default on a previous loan. The size of the loan wasn’t announced, but a spokesman for Hawaiian said it was larger than the $111 million it received from Security Pacific nine months ago. Hawaiian defaulted on that loan in June.

The latest loan was essential to keeping the money-losing airline in business. J. Thomas Talbot, Hawaiian’s chairman and Ueberroth’s partner, said it was a vote of confidence from the bank. “It means they agree we’re going to make it,” Talbot said.

A spokeswoman for Security Pacific declined comment.

Security Pacific made the original loan to a group of investors led by Ueberroth to finance a leveraged buyout of Hawaiian last December. The airline, which primarily serves the Hawaiian Islands, had been losing money, but its condition worsened after Ueberroth and his associates took over.

The losses piled up under Ueberroth’s control partly because the military suspended a $9-million troop transport contract on the grounds that aircraft maintenance and record keeping were inadequate. It cost the airline millions to conduct the needed repairs.

Also, the airline’s interest payments grew as a result of the leveraged buyout. In its second quarter, net interest costs swelled nearly 75% to $2.7 million. The airline lost a record $26.8 million during the same quarter.

Hawaiian has moved to cut costs. It recently fired 1,000 workers and obtained 10% wage cuts from its unions. In return for the concessions, expected to save $25 million the next two years, Hawaiian gave its workers 20% of its stock.

According to banking sources, Security Pacific was unable to syndicate, or sell off, portions of the loan to other banks--a sign that Hawaiian is viewed as a risky investment. Banking sources said it is unusual for Security Pacific to make a large loan that it can’t syndicate.

The original loan was secured by all of Hawaiian’s assets. It could not be learned whether Hawaiian had to put up additional collateral, such as stock or personal guarantees from its owners, to secure the additional funding.