If you've ridden through the storms and turbulence of interisland airlines over the years, the idea of "bankruptcy" came to seem a temporary thing, like a bad cold or a sports injury. They say the airline is in the red, they raise fares and cut salaries and, after a while, they bounce right back, strong and sassy as ever. Often even sassier. The mac nut packets reappear. The fridge in the first-class lounge is fully stocked. The customer service agents start giving you the indifferent treatment again. All part of the cycle.

What a shock that Aloha Airlines' bankruptcy was not a temporary condition but one that would take them out.

At the airport yesterday morning, people looked glassy-eyed and stunned. Many of the Aloha ticket agents wore lei and that pained expression of gutting it through an emotionally hard day without cracking.

Even down at the little terminal where go! has its ticket counter, there was no celebratory gloating but rather the kind of quiet that comes over people when there is a death in the community.

Beneath the stunned surprise, though, is a tangled mix of feelings, some borne of long-standing relationships or grudges with Aloha.

The reality is it hasn't always been a happy marriage. The last 20 years had some rough patches and unresolved hurts. Ticket prices could be obscenely high with punitive restrictions. For every time a ticket agent appeared like an angel to get you on the last seat on the last flight so you could be there for your dying relative, there were the times they didn't apologize for a huge delay or wouldn't let you use your miles. You felt like a big shot when your cousin worked the ticket counter in Hilo and let you board early with the first-class folks. But you also felt the shame of getting pulled out of your seat and escorted off the plane to make room for the last member of a sticker-wearing tour group.

We've been through a lot together, not all of it good, not all of it bad.

In the end, let us not pretend who strayed.

go! showed up with its ill-gotten insider information and dangled $19 fares in front of our noses and we went for it. We went for it the same way we go for "free hot dogs and balloons for the keiki" at weekend auto lots. Loyalty goes right out the window with a cheap ticket. Jonathan Ornstein counted on Hawai'i travelers to be just that loyal.

It is a sad day for the Aloha employees. It is a sad day for all of Hawai'i. It is a shock to realize that "local loyalty" is not a solid business plan anymore.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.