In an industry known for mavericks, Jonathan Ornstein stands out. Since he launched the new interisland airline go! less than six months ago, Ornstein has been sued by his two major competitors, been praised by consumers and received hate mail from rival pilots.

The 49-year-old chief executive officer of Mesa Air Group is brash and outspoken — not always the most admired traits for CEOs operating in Hawai'i. But as long as Ornstein keeps flying people between islands for $39, he is likely to find plenty of support in the state.

"He is one of those love-him-or-hate-'em kind of guys," said Scott Hamilton, founder of the aviation consulting firm Leeham Co. in Issaquah, Wash. "John is an extraordinarily controversial individual."

As a stockbroker nearly 20 years ago, Ornstein had his license suspended for alleged unauthorized trading. Ornstein says that mistake taught him the value of second chances, and he has made the most of his.

Leaving behind the brokerage business, the New York native moved into airlines, where he has found consistent success.

His ability to turn around an airline and keep costs down has earned him a following on Wall Street. His Phoenix-based Mesa has earned a profit in the past 18 straight quarters, a period marked by bankruptcy filings by several major domestic carriers following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

'BOON FOR CONSUMERS'

Ornstein launched go! as a subsidiary of Mesa on June 9 with one-way fares at $39. He later dropped the fare to as low as $19 during special promotions. The low fares were matched by the two longtime interisland carriers — Hawaiian Airlines and Aloha Airlines — and have led to an increase in travel between islands. Many local residents — who had cut back on Neighbor Island trips when one-way prices jumped to $80 or more after Sept. 11 — are flying again.

"I think everyone will agree that the presence of a third viable airline in Hawai'i has changed the way we travel and has been a boon for consumers," said Nu'uanu attorney Ken Sorenson, who recently took advantage of go!'s $19 special to travel to Kaua'i.

Ornstein earned his reputation in aviation during the mid-1990s. It was then that he helped restructure Continental Airlines' regional carrier Continental Express and played a role in the parent company's recovery. He later headed low-cost carrier Virgin Express for British entrepreneur Richard Branson before becoming Mesa's CEO in 1998, where he nursed the regional airline back to profitability.

He's also well known for speaking his mind and makes no excuses for doing so.

"I'm not going to do the politically expedient thing if I don't think it's the right thing to do," said Ornstein. "Unfortunately, people only like straight shooters if they're saying what you want them to say."

At times, Ornstein's outspoken style has gotten him into legal hot water.

IN HOT WATER

During a January conference call with Wall Street analysts, he boasted that go! would be profitable because he had the "benefit of looking at Aloha and Hawaiian during their respective bankruptcies."

Both Hawaiian and Aloha seized on those remarks in separate lawsuits they filed against Mesa, which alleged Mesa improperly used confidential business data it received when the local carriers were under bankruptcy protection. Hawaiian also unearthed a 2005 e-mail by Mesa's chief financial officer that discussed giving Aloha Airlines, which was in bankruptcy at the time, a final push to drive it out of business.

At one time, Mesa was considering investing in Aloha and Hawaiian during their respective bankruptcies and reviewed some of the airlines' closely held financial data under a confidentiality agreement.

Ornstein said the e-mail was taken out of context. He said his remarks to analysts referred to publicly available data and was not referring to the airline's internal financial records and market studies, which the airline did not use when it launched go!

Federal Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris rejected Hawaiian's request for an injunction barring Mesa from flying interisland but not before criticizing the company's apparent efforts to derail the local airlines. Hawaiian is still seeking unspecified damages from Mesa and that portion of the suit won't be heard until next year. Aloha's suit is pending.

"Unfortunately there are times that he could not keep his mouth shut. There are times that he can't help himself," said Hamilton.

Ornstein said Mesa and go! had always envisioned three major carriers in the interisland market. He said the Hawaiian and Aloha suits are attempts to stifle competition and drive up interisland fares.

Ornstein blamed the local airlines for their own losses because they're not only reducing fares to match go! but are increasing their passenger capacity significantly, in what he describes as a classic "rope-a-dope" strategy.

"Do we have to dominate the market? No. Do we need to push someone out of business? No. They also have to recognize and respect our existence and not try to force us out of business," Ornstein said.

"The people of Hawai'i know full well that without us, they'd be charged triple of what they're being charged today."

Mike Uslan doesn't buy that argument. As one of the founders of a group of Aloha, Hawaiian and Island Air employees opposing go!, Uslan believes that go! is charging below-cost fares to drive either Aloha or Hawaiian out of business.

Once that happens, go! will raise fares well above existing levels, said Uslan, a former Mesa pilot now working for Aloha.

Uslan's group opposing go! has aimed most of its efforts directly at Ornstein. The group calls itself HERO, or Hawaii's airline Employees Repelling Ornstein. This month it sent a T-shirt to Ornstein that read "go! is not a Hawaiian airline ..." on the front and "... Mesa has no Aloha" on the back. HERO members had written angry comments on the shirt, including one anti-Semitic reference, at a Nov. 8 rally at the state Capitol.

Ornstein said he was personally offended by the shirt. In the past, attacks on go! have only increased Ornstein's determination to make the airline succeed.

SECOND CHANCES

Whether he's starting up a new interisland airline, collecting motorcycles or speeding around a Las Vegas race track in a vintage Porsche 911 at 140 mph, Ornstein isn't a typical airline CEO.

During the late 1970s, he dropped out of the University of Pennsylvania to become the youngest-ever broker at E.F. Hutton at the age of 21.

A 1999 profile by Forbes magazine noted that Ornstein went on to work at several brokerage firms where he was the subject of a number of disciplinary actions. The National Association of Securities Dealers fined Ornstein $10,000 and suspended his license for two years.

"Did I make mistakes? Absolutely," Ornstein said.

"Has it taught me about giving people a second chance? Absolutely."

With his license suspended, Ornstein got his first job in the airline business in 1987 when he joined AirLA, a tiny commuter airline serving the Los Angeles area. Money was tight back then and Ornstein said he keeps in his office the scooter he rode to work every day at AirLA.

He recalled that he had to sell cars in his free time to make ends meet.

"I remember pulling out the chest of drawers from the walls because I knew I dropped money behind it," he said.

In 1989, he was hired by Mesa as an assistant to then-company CEO Larry Risley but left the company in 1994 to serve as president of Continental Airlines' regional carrier Continental Express.

At the time Continental was heading toward its third bankruptcy in 10 years and its Continental Express unit was losing about $40 million a year. By the time Ornstein left Continental Express, it was making about $25 million in profit a year, according to Forbes magazine.

Hamilton, the airline industry consultant, said many of the major changes Ornstein initiated at Continental Express later became a big part of Continental's so-called "go-forward" plan popularized by Continental CEO Gordon Bethune in his best-selling book "From Worst to First."

A biography on Mesa's Web site noted that Ornstein left Continental in 1996 when the company decided not to spin off Continental Express. But Hamilton recalled that Ornstein clashed with Bethune over who should get credit for the turnaround.

Ornstein later headed Branson's Virgin Express airline, which grew from a $25 million-a-year airline to a $300 million-a-year carrier under Ornstein's tenure.

Ornstein returned to Mesa in 1998 when the company fell on hard times. According to Mesa's Web site, the regional carrier was losing about $1 million a week and was down to about $8 million in cash. As he had done at Continental, Ornstein cut costs and returned it to profitability.

Since then, Mesa has been profitable in all but one of the past 27 quarters.

Reach Rick Daysog at rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com.