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Pension Update/
As a result of the Bankruptcy filing by Aloha, AFA has initiated and participated in meetings with the company to determine the proper handling of the Flight Attendant Pension Plan. Rest assured the money is very secure and cannot be accessed by the company or the courts for repayment of the company’s debts.
Plan documents state that if the company discontinues the required contributions, the plan will terminate. Plan documents and federal law also require that when a plan terminates, each plan participant is immediately 100% vested in his or her account values. Eventually all plan assets will be converted to cash and account values will be distributed as directed by each individual Aloha flight attendant.
We are awaiting notification from Bank of Hawaii (BOH), which is the directed trustee/custodian of the pension plan, of the date of a meeting among BOH, AFA, the Company, Choy & Co. and other parties. We anticipate that this meeting will take place this week. The purpose of the meeting is to (i) determine the process necessary to terminate the Pension Plan, (ii) initiate that process, and (iii) secure, if necessary, a new Determination Letter from the Internal Revenue Service to certify the tax-favored status of the Plan.
The AFA staff members who will be working on our pension issues are:
David Borer, AFA General Counsel
Mary Lou Savage, AFA Sr. Benefits Attorney
Jay Trumble, AFA Staff Attorney
Mark Littleton, AFA Sr. Staff Negotiator
Gail Kim-Moe, MEC President
Once the decisions described above are made, we expect that BOH and AFA will host meetings to present information about the options available to plan participants upon termination and eventual distribution of account values. You will be notified of the date, time, and location of such meetings. Information about these meetings and other matters relating to the Pension Plan, when available, will also be posted at www.afaaloha.com
Until more information is available, we are unable to provide a date by which, or even estimate how long it will be before, your account values will be available for distribution. However, we are committed to accomplishing this task as expeditiously as possible.
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