Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Friday, April 16, 1999
Hawaiian Air sees business increase
Hawaiian Airlines Inc. said today it carried about 30,000 more passengers last month than in March 1998, a 6.6 percent increase to 489,959 from 459,816 a year earlier.For the first quarter, the increase was higher, 9.1 percent, Hawaiian said. The airline carried 1.36 million passengers in the first three months of this year, up from 1.25 million in the year-earlier quarter. Its load factor, the percentage of available seats occupied by paying passengers, was 76.3 percent last month, vs. 76.2 percent in March 1998. The first-quarter load factor was 75 percent, from 69.9 percent a year earlier.
Boyd Gaming's net slips 4.3 percent
Boyd Gaming Corp., the Las Vegas company whose casino hotels are popular among Hawaii residents, reported a first-quarter net profit of $8.9 million, or 14 cents a share, down 4.3 percent from a profit of $9.3 million, or 15 cents a share, in the first quarter of last year. Despite the decline in the net, Boyd called the first three months of this year its best quarter ever because of a record cash flow. The net was down because of a $1.7 million charge in the latest quarter from a change in the way the company accounts for costs of starting up new operations.Besides owning the California, Fremont and Main Street Station hotels in downtown Las Vegas, Boyd also owns the Vacations Hawaii travel agency.
In other news . . .
MINNEAPOLIS -- General Mills Inc., which makes Cheerios, Wheaties and Lucky Charms, today confirmed it is raising cereal prices an average 2.5 percent.