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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Wednesday, June 14, 2000

Cheap Tickets adds luxury cruises

Honolulu-based Cheap Tickets Inc. has added luxury ocean cruises to its discounted travel products and said it is launching the business with additional cuts of up to $400 on a number of tours. Its offerings include a seven-night Western Caribbean cruise for $799 per person with a $50 per cabin discount for booking through Cheap Tickets and a 10-night Panama Canal, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica cruise starting at $999 per person with a $100 per cabin Cheap Tickets discount.

Business climbs at Hawaiian Air

Hawaiian Airlines Inc. carried 522,666 passengers in May, an increase of 15.4 percent from 452,728 in May 1999. The airline increased its systemwide capacity 11.3 percent from May 1999, to offer 584.5 million seat-miles last month, up from 525.3 million. One available seat-mile is one seat to carry a passenger one mile. Despite the gain in available seats Hawaiian's load factor, the percentage of available seats occupied by paying passengers, rose to 80.7 percent last month from 73.3 percent in May 1999. In addition to its interisland service, Hawaiian has Hawaii-mainland and Hawaii-South Pacific flights.

Pier 1 Imports records strong net

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Pier 1 Imports Inc., the largest U.S. retailer of imported home-decorating items, said fiscal first-quarter profit rose by a third. The company also began selling merchandise on the Internet. Net income in the period ended May 27 rose to $16.9 million, or 17 cents a share, from $12.6 million, or 13 cents, a year ago. Sales increased 15 percent to $299.5 million from $261 million. Rising U.S. incomes and low unemployment brought customers shopping for furniture, garden accessories and candles.

The company also cut some prices to spur sales. Same-store sales, a key measure that excludes results from new and closed stores, rose 9.7 percent from a year earlier, Bloomberg News reported. Per-share profit was a penny above the 16-cent average estimate of analysts.