Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris, declaring that something is better than nothing, gave the green light today for Island Air’s trustee to take the necessary steps to proceed in the sale of the company’s operating certificate to a subsidiary of Hawaiian Airlines’ corporate parent.

Faris also granted approval for Island Air’s trustee to use $100,000 that was advanced by Hawaiian as part of the $450,000 purchase price to be used for administrative expenses, which would include costs incurred in trying to give more than 400 Island Air employees access to their 401(k) accounts.

In issuing his ruling, Faris acknowledged that there is no assurance the sale ultimately will take place because it involves reconverting the case to a Chapter 11 reorganization so that Hawaiian subsidiary Elliott Street Holdings Inc. can buy newly issued shares of a shell company that includes only one asset — the operating certificate. Other bidders also could come in during Chapter 11 and outbid Hawaiian.

“There’s a number of issues that have to be overcome and it may be impossible to get this plan confirmed without the consent from the affected parties,” Faris said. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. Even if the benefits of this course of action are uncertain, even through there’s a lot of risk in getting benefits, the alternative is basically dismissal and there’s a virtual certainty that nobody, with the possible exception of the secured creditors, will get anything.

“The administrative creditors, the priority creditors, the employees, the vendors, if the case is dismissed, those people will almost certainly get nothing. If we proceed down this path and if a plan is confirmed, then some of those people might get something. The odds of them getting it are uncertain. The amount they’ll get is uncertain. But a chance at something is better than the certainty of nothing.”

Separately, a hearing on the sale of Island Air’s so-called “other assets” was rescheduled to 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 29 because the value of the items for sale has been reduced due to confusion over what Island Air actually owned at the time of its Oct. 16 bankruptcy filing.