Aloha Airlines will resume cargo operations tonight under an agreement reached in federal bankruptcy court.

A court-appointed trustee will oversee the cargo division until May 14 when the sale of the unit will be completed to Seattle-based Saltchuk Resources Inc., the owner of Young Brothers/Hawaiian Tug & Barge.

"They are waiting for me to push the button" to resume service, said Aloha's chief executive David Banmiller.

Saltchuk said earlier that it reached an agreement with Aloha and its chief lender GMAC Commercial Finance LLC to purchase the shuttered air freight operations, which handled 85 percent of all goods flown between the islands.

Saltchuk said it plans to hire existing Aloha employees but did not say if it would retain all 300 of the company's air cargo employees.

Saltchuk said it revived its interest in the business at the urgings of U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye.

"We re-engaged in our efforts to acquire Aloha's Air Cargo operation after Senator Inouye personally called us shortly after the shutdown of operations earlier this week." explained Saltchuk President Tim Engle. "He was greatly concerned about the 300 jobs and the vital service that Aloha Air Cargo has provided for the people of Hawaii and asked we try once again to see if we could make something happen" Engle said.

Aloha abruptly shut down its air cargo operations on Monday, laying off more than 300 workers and sending retailers and wholesalers scrambling for alternative ways to ship their goods between the islands. The shutdown came a month after Aloha filed for bankruptcy and ceased passenger services, resulting in the loss of 1,900 jobs.