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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Friday, February 25, 2000

Aloha Air to start next Oakland service

Aloha Airlines will launch its second Oakland-Hawaii service Monday, when it starts daily service to Kahului, Maui. Aloha has been running daily Oakland-Honolulu service since Feb. 14, using a Boeing 737-700 extended-range aircraft. Oakland is the first mainland connection for the airline, which was founded in 1946 as an interisland carrier.

Aloha and Oakland officials have been promoting Oakland International Airport as an alternative link to Silicon Valley and San Francisco without experiencing the heavy air and ground traffic at San Francisco's main airport. Aloha is looking for other mainland connections away from other cities' main airports.

Deflation a threat to Japan's economy

TOKYO -- Japan said today that a drop in consumer prices showed the threat of deflation still hangs over the fragile economy, giving the central bank little hope of ending its unprecedented zero interest-rate policy anytime soon.

"Japan is not in deflation, but if we make mistakes in fiscal and monetary policy there are fears that the economy could slip into deflation," Economic Planning Minister Taichi Sakaiya told a regular news conference.

Sakaiya's remarks followed the release of government data showing nationwide consumer prices fell 0.9 percent in January from a year earlier and 0.3 percent from December.

Hotel Reservations hits Wall Street

NEW YORK -- An initial offering of 5.4 million shares of Hotel Reservations Network Inc. was priced at $16 each today. The shares, traded on Nasdaq under the symbol ROOM, closed at $26, a rise of 63 percent.

Hotel Reservations, a unit of USA Networks Inc., had expected to offer the shares at $11 to $13 each. Based in Dallas, Hotel Reservations consolidates and offers hotel accommodations online.

It plans to use the offering proceeds for general corporate purposes, including working capital to support the continued expansion of its operations and expenses associated with enhancing its Web sites.