"It's just a remarkably happy day for us. It was difficult to get to this point but thank God we're here," said chief operating officer Michael Coffman.

The $10.5-million sale to a subsidiary of Saltchuk Resources allowed nearly 400 former Aloha Airlines employees to be rehired.

"It's mixed emotions cause you know you've had the blessing of being called back and some have not," said dispatcher Kamuela Clemente.

Clemente had been out of work since Aloha's passenger operations stopped six weeks ago.

"I've been applying at a few other places but I was unsuccessful, and of course, collecting unemployment," he said. "It's very draining so this is a good day for me."

On April 28, the company abruptly shut down its cargo operations for almost three days when the auction of the division hit a snag. The deal was in doubt because of a contract dispute with the pilots union but on Monday a bankruptcy judge approved a motion to terminate all six of the company's collective-bargaining agreements.

"(I was) a little disappointed, but I understood what Saltchuk had to do in order to make this company a better company. We do have the understanding that we will have a contract in the near future," Clemente said.

"As a brand new company, we had the opportunity to hire whoever we want to hire and that's what we did. In every category we think we got the best and the brightest employees," said Coffman. "I want us to be in a position where the transition to a new company is seamless as far as the customer base is concerned. and that we just keep getting better as far as service."

Proceeds from the sale will be used to pay employees.

Those who worked their regular hours will be paid by GMAC Commercial Finance, Aloha's main lender, for their time dating back to April 16.

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