Aloha Airlines

Aloha Airlines' 2008 bankruptcy and closure ended a Hawaiian carrier after 61 years. The company faced impossible economics: a small island market, competition from Hawaiian Airlines, and fuel prices that destroyed inter-island economics. When Mesa Air's go! subsidiary launched predatory pricing, Aloha couldn't survive the war of attrition. The closure left Hawaiian Airlines as near-monopolist. Aloha demonstrated that limited market geography creates winner-take-all dynamics.