Hawaiian Airlines Denied $1.6 Million Tax Refund on Boeing Parts

Hawaiian Airlines Inc. failed to convince a state appeals court that jet parts it buys from Boeing Co. are tax-exempt service and maintenance costs.

The exemption applies to taxpayers who service and maintain aircraft for others, not to the sale of tangible property, the the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals ruled Nov. 10. “Hawaiian conflates Boeing’s production and sale of aircraft parts with Hawaiian’s purchase of those parts,” Judge Keith K. Hiraoka wrote for the panel.

• Hawaiian agreed to pay the state’s general excise taxes on supply parts it bought for its fleet of Boeing aircraft
• The Hawaii Department of ...