A billionaire and a former professional football player would become new principal owners of Aloha Airlines under a proposed investment plan to bring the local carrier out of bankruptcy.

Ronald Burkle, founder of the $2 billion investment fund The Yucaipa Cos., and Willie Gault, a one-time wide receiver for the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Raiders, have agreed to provide Aloha with $100 million in financing.

The deal, if approved by a bankruptcy judge, would allow some big names to make a big bet on the struggling airline, which needs capital to help it survive in an industry with daunting challenges, including high fuel prices and low-cost competitors.

David Banmiller, Aloha's chief executive officer, was upbeat about the opportunity for Aloha and its prospective investors. "This is a cyclical industry that's seen sees ups and downs," he said. "Clearly as a industry it will come back."

The proposed capital infusion would be the first in an airline business for Burkle's Yucaipa fund, which is contributing a larger but undisclosed amount of money to the deal than Gault, who has previously invested in the airline industry.

Burkle, a former grocery-store bag boy, established Los Angeles-based Yucaipa in 1986, and has largely dealt in mergers and acquisitions of supermarket chains on the Mainland, including investments in Fred Meyer, Smith Food and Drug, Ralphs Grocery Co., Dominick's and Food4Less. In June, Yucaipa invested $150 million in Pathmark Stores Inc., a regional chain on the East Coast.

Other Burkle deals include a $100 million investment in rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs' Sean John Clothing Co. in 2003, and the acquisition of a 5,000-employee global automotive logistics supplier called TDS Logistics Inc. last year.

Burkle, 52, is a big Democratic Party contributor, and is ranked by Forbes as the 112th wealthiest American with a net worth of $2.3 billion. He is a board member of Yahoo! Inc. and Occidental Petroleum Corp. among other companies.

Yucaipa describes itself as a hands-on investor that has completed mergers and acquisitions valued at more than $30 billion, and a company that has earned close to a 40 percent return on investment.

One person familiar with Yucaipa said the firm has looked at investments in the airline industry for several years, and liked what it saw in Aloha chief executive Banmiller.

Banmiller was hired in November, and previously was chief operating officer for Air Jamaica. Banmiller also has served as president and CEO of Sun Country Airlines, Pan American World Airways and Sun Jet.

As for Burkle, his perhaps most notable affiliation with an airline may be the nickname of his private Boeing 757, "Ron Air."

Gault has some experience in commercial airline investing. Earlier this year he was involved in the acquisition of financially struggling Alaska-based regional airline ERA Aviation for an undisclosed price.

Aloha attorneys said in a filing that the principals of Aloha Aviation Investment Group, a company managed by Gault and created to invest in Aloha, have a record investing in and improving underperforming companies. But the filing did not list examples other than the ERA purchase that was completed in July.

Gault is better known as a speedy player who helped the Chicago Bears win Super Bowl XX in 1986, and was part of the team that sang and danced "The Super Bowl Shuffle."

Gault later played for the Los Angeles Raiders, and went on to act in several movies. Before playing professional football, Gault was a track star who won two Olympic gold medals and was a member of the U.S. bobsled team.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.