Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Friday, June 12, 1998
Hawaiian Air's traffic off 1.4 percent in May
Hawaiian Airlines Inc. had fewer passengers and a higher percentage of empty seats last month than in May 1997.
The interisland and trans-Pacific airline said it carried 433,491 passengers in May, down 1.4 percent from 439,834 in May 1997. That brought its systemwide load factor to 77.5 percent, down 2.3 percentage points from a May 1997 load factor of 79.8 percent of the available seats filled. Hawaiian said it carried 2.12 million passengers in the first five months of 1998, down 2.5 percent from 2.18 million in equivalent period of 1997.
Northwest Air under government scrutiny
WASHINGTON -- The government is investigating allegations that Northwest Airlines improperly maintained its aged DC-9 airplanes and that a local Federal Aviation Administration inspector may not have properly supervised the operation.The airline, which flies the oldest fleet of airplanes among the nation's major carriers, saved billions of dollars starting in 1994 when it decided to skip a round of aircraft purchases and instead extend the life of 25-year-old airplanes up to 40 years.
The allegations come as Northwest is engaged in contentious contract talks with four unions.
In other news . . .
INGOLSTADT, Germany -- Continuing its luxury shopping spree a week after buying Rolls-Royce, Volkswagen AG said it has signed a letter of intent to acquire the Italian sports-car maker Lamborghini SpA. The price was not given, but reports put it at $40 million. Lamborghini's major shareholder is a son of former Indonesian President Suharto.
See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
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