Hawaiian Airlines boosted its passenger count by more than 11 percent in July from the same month a year earlier as it expanded interisland operations in the wake of Aloha Airlines' shutdown.

At the same time, Hawaiian's planes were not as full in July, reflecting capacity adjustments and fare hikes undertaken to offset higher fuel costs, the airline said yesterday.

Hawaiian flew a total of 728,718 passengers on its interisland, Mainland and international flights, up 11.1 percent from July 2007. Hawaiian said Its planes were 84 percent full in July, down from 87.3 percent a year earlier.

Rival airline go!, a unit of Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group, on Thursday said its interisland passenger load increased by 2.2 percent in July from the same month a year earlier.

The go! planes were 70.4 percent full in July, compared to 82.7 percent in July 2007.

Hawaiian reported a profit in the second quarter as it accepted a $52.5 million settlement from Mesa, which was accused of improperly using confidential information on Hawaiian before entering the interisland market in 2006. Hawaiian Holdings Inc. said it earned $54.3 million, or $1.09 per share, in the three months ended June 30, on operating revenue of $319.2 million.

Mesa showed a profit in the second quarter of $17.5 million, or $0.51 per share, on operating revenues of $320.3 million.