With airlines across the country struggling to survive, the likelihood of an Aloha Airlines pilot or flight attendant finding a job with similar pay and benefits in this country, much less in Hawai'i, is very slim.

That's the feeling of representatives with the pilots' and flight attendants' unions following Sunday's announcement that Aloha Airlines would shut its passenger service yesterday. The closure leaves 1,900 employees, including 308 pilots and 380 flight attendants, looking for work.

Laid-off employees will not receive a severance package, and health benefits also expired yesterday. Employees can get medical coverage through the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, or COBRA, but workers will have to take over the insurance premium that the employer paid at the group rate.

Aloha's shutdown will not affect employee retirement plans, which are administered by the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., said Wayne Wakeman, an Aloha pilot and spokesman for Save Aloha Airlines. The funds are held in a trust that cannot be touched by creditors, he said.

But for those who are not at retirement age, the outlook is gloomy for a continued career in air transportation.

"There are very few (pilot) jobs in America. There are a lot of furloughs still out there. There are no jobs in Hawai'i right now," said Mike Feeney, a spokesman for the pilots' union. "It's particularly bad for pilots. The way our business is set up, when you start over at another airline you start as a 22-year-old first officer and you're making $25,000 a year. For a lot of people that's an 80 percent pay cut."

A junior pilot at Aloha earns a little more than $30,000 a year, while senior pilots make up to $120,000 annually.

Feeney, who has flown for Aloha for 18 years, would not comment on what he will do when Aloha shuts down, but said filing for unemployment will be an option for many workers.

"This happened 24 hours ago and everyone was blindsided," Feeney said yesterday. "I don't think most of them have resumes. I was supposed to be working until I was 65. That was my promise when I came to work here when I was 22."

For flight attendants hoping to stay in the Islands, the prospects also aren't very good.

Gail Kim-Moe, spokeswoman for the flight attendants' union, said many airlines are downsizing and aren't in any position to be hiring new employees. Kim-Moe, a 19-year veteran flight attendant with Aloha, added that she and many workers also "don't want to start a new flight attendant career."

"That would mean uprooting my family, my children from their schools, my community connections," Kim-Moe said.

She said she believes some flight attendants will be hired by Hawaiian Airlines when it expands its service to cover the loss of Aloha flights. Kim-Moe said employees also could move to go!, which started a fare war that some are blaming for leading to Aloha's demise.

"I certainly would never fault anyone for making that choice," Kim-Moe said. "When it gets down to it, everyone needs to do what they need to do as far as taking care of their families, taking care of themselves."

The job opportunities for other Aloha employees are brighter, said James Hardway, spokesman for the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Hardway said his office yesterday was receiving calls from prospective employers looking to hire former Aloha employees. He said the department's Workforce Development Division will help to place these workers.

"One of the main things that people need to remember is at a 3.2 percent unemployment rate, we still have a labor shortage in Hawai'i, so there is room for people to transition into other jobs," Hardway said. "Preliminarily, given what we've heard from employers, we think that hopefully it sounds like a good number may be able to transition to other employers."

For those who will seek unemployment benefits, the department is extending office hours this week and expanding services to accommodate the anticipated influx of former Aloha employees. Claims may be filed from 7:15 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, while the Honolulu office will be open on Saturday from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The state also will join the city and Society For Human Resource Management to hold a job fair next week. Details of that event are being finalized.

"We have a lot of resources and we're going to utilize them," said Darwin Ching, labor director.

Ching said the department also has scheduled informational meetings for Aloha employees Thursday in Honolulu, Kaua'i, Maui, Hilo and Kona. These sessions will provide workers with information on how to file for benefits, what their rights are, and also provide counseling for people with credit and mortgage concerns.

Updated information on these sessions and other issues relating to Aloha should be available today at www.hawaii .gov/labor, Ching said.