Aloha Airlines and Kiritimati (Christmas Island), becoming the first airline to operate ETOPS approved B737s. In late 1986, Ching and vice-chairman Sheridan Ing announced plans to take the company private, and it remained in the hands of the Ing and Ching families until its emergence from bankruptcy in 2006, when additional investors including The Yucaipa Cos., Aloha Aviation Investment Group, and Aloha Hawaii Investors LLC took stakes in the airline. In 1987, the airline acquired Princeville Airways, renaming Aloha IslandAir, which became known as Island Air in 1995. In 2003, Island Air was sold to Gavarnie Holding and became an independent airline.
Talofa Talofa Talofa is a salutation or greeting in the Samoan language of the Samoan Islands. "Talofa" echoes in such phrases as "ta'alofa" in Tuvalu, "aloha" in Hawaiian and "aro'a" in Cook Islands Māori. Another Samoan salutation "To life, live long!" properly translated "Ia ola!" also echoes in places such as Aotearoa (New Zealand), where the formal greeting in Māori is Kia ora and in Tahiti (French Polynesia) where it is 'Ia orana. "Talofa" is also the greeting of the island of Lifou (New Caledonia), and of the island state of Tuvalu. The word was brought to Lifou by the Samoan