John Ueberroth Named CEO of HAL Inc.

HAL Inc., the parent of money-losing Hawaiian Airlines, said Thursday that John A. Ueberroth was elected chairman and chief executive, replacing Newport Beach investor J. Thomas Talbot, who resigned.

Ueberroth, 46, is the younger brother of former Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth, who with Talbot engineered the 1989 leveraged buyout of Hawaiian. Peter Ueberroth and Talbot remain large shareholders.

As Hawaiian’s problems mounted, John Ueberroth joined as president and chief operating officer a year ago. He immediately dismantled Talbot’s expansion strategy, cutting routes and reducing payroll. He slashed capacity in the airline’s South Pacific and transpacific markets by 50%.

John Ueberroth said he “worked well with Tom.” Ueberroth said Talbot left to pursue other business interests; Talbot, 55, has developed warehouse parks in California, among other things. Talbot will remain on Hawaiian’s board.

A spokeswoman for Talbot at his Newport Beach office said he was traveling in Asia and could not be reached.

Under Talbot, the airline--saddled with debt from the leveraged buyout--lost record amounts of money and defaulted on bank loans and lease agreements. It was forced to sell a 25% stake and a valuable Australian route to Northwest Airlines to raise cash.

The airline is in default on its loans to Security Pacific Bank, although it has reached a tentative agreement to restructure the debt.

It wasn’t clear Thursday whether Talbot remained part of the Contrarian Group, Peter Ueberroth’s Newport Beach-based management group that participated in the Hawaiian buyout.

HAL said Honolulu lawyer H. Mitchell D’Olier, 45, the airline’s outside adviser for two years, would replace John Ueberroth as president and chief operating officer. D’Olier is resigning from the law firm Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel, where he was a partner.