Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court District of Hawaii yesterday ruled in favor of Hawaiian Airlines in its lawsuit against Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group, awarding $80 million in damages and ordering Mesa to pay all of Hawaiian’s legal costs and “reasonable” lawyer fees. Hawaiian had asked for $173 million and an injunction barring Mesa from operating Go! for a year, a request Judge Robert Faris rejected. 
The award accounts for damages related to Mesa’s use of proprietary information it obtained during a failed attempt to participate in Hawaiian’s bankruptcy restructuring to later establish its Go! interisland subsidiary. Earlier this month Faris ruled that Mesa CFO Peter Murnane intentionally destroyed evidence Hawaiian Airlines could have used to prove Mesa engaged in predatory tactics in launching Go! last year. In his ruling, Faris rejected claims that Murnane accidentally deleted files related to the case while purging his computer of pornographic material. 
The $80 million compensates Hawaiian for damages it suffered through this month. The court did not rule on future damages, and Hawaiian said it intends to study the opinions handed down yesterday and applicable law to determine what steps it can take to recover damages it might suffer in subsequent periods.
Fellow Hawaiian carrier Aloha Airlines has filed a similar lawsuit against Mesa, scheduled to go to trial in April.

Hawaiian Airlines Wins Lawsuit with Mesa

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