Hawaiian Airlines Chief Executive Officer Mark Dunkerley sold about $2 million in company stock earlier this month.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dunkerley sold 200,000 shares at $8.59 a share on May 2 and another 33,570 at $8.45 per share that same day.

The company said Dunkerly continues to own a "significant amount of the company's equity."

The sale — Dunkerley's first since he joined the company in 2002 — leaves the CEO with 225,000 shares of restricted stock. He also has options to purchase acquire another 1.6 million shares.

Hawaiian Holdings Inc., the airline's parent, said Dunkerley sold the stock for personal financial-planning reasons.

The company said that most of the stock sold, or 200,000 shares, were obtained by Dunkerley after he exercised a stock option granted to him in 2002. Those options were part of an incentive package to retain the executive when the airline was under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Hawaiian Holdings said.