Hawaiian Airlines has alleged that a top Mesa Air Group executive destroyed evidence that could show that Mesa misused confidential information to start its low-cost interisland carrier go!

In court papers filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Hawaiian said Mesa Chief Financial Officer Peter Murnane deleted several computer files that contained Hawaiian's business plan and other proprietary financial information.

Murnane allegedly deleted the files a week after Hawaiian sued Mesa for allegedly misusing confidential information, Hawaiian said.

"Mesa — specifically, Mr. Murnane himself — engaged in willful and deliberate spoliation of evidence that existed on three of his computers," Hawaiian's attorney Bruce Bennett said in yesterday's legal filings.

"He did so even though Mesa's in-house counsel explicitly instructed him and others at Mesa to 'preserve any and all documents.' "

Mesa Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Ornstein could not be reached for immediate response yesterday. Joe Bock, spokesman for go!, declined comment, saying he has not seen Hawaiian's new court filing.

Hawaiian, the state's largest airline, sued Mesa in February 2006 and asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris to bar Mesa from the Hawai'i market for a year.

Faris didn't grant the one-year ban last October but said Mesa "probably breached the confidentiality agreement" by failing to return or destroy material in a timely manner.

Faris' ruling also singled out Murnane for a 2005 e-mail in which the Mesa executive discussed giving Aloha Airlines a final push to drive it out of business when it was still under bankruptcy protection.

Mesa CEO Ornstein has said in the past that Murnane's e-mail was taken out of context and that Mesa's low-fare business plan is predicated on having three major airlines serving the interisland market.

Since go! started in June 2006, local airfares have dropped by as much as half, increasing the number of interisland passengers. But the low-fare environment has pummeled the bottom lines of Hawai'i's carriers. Hawaiian and Aloha lost a combined $82.1 million last year.

In its filing yesterday, Hawaiian said it is seeking damages as a result of Murnane's alleged actions but the company redacted the amounts that it seeks.

Reach Rick Daysog at rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com.