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HAWAII
American to add Chicago-Maui
American Airlines will start direct service in April from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago to Kahului, Maui. Using Boeing 767-300 aircraft with 212 seats, the service will start April 6 with five flights a week, every day except Tuesday and Wednesday.American said it will go daily with the service June 14. The Chicago flights will replace American's St. Louis-Maui service, which ends April 5.
American already has the only nonstop Chicago-Honolulu service, since United Airlines dropped that route. The airline is a major mainland-Hawaii carrier, running direct services to Honolulu from Dallas-Fort Worth, St. Louis, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Jose. It also flies direct to Kona and Kahului from several mainland points.
Thrifty Car Rental goes corporate
Thrifty Car Rental in Hawaii will cease to be a franchise at the end of the month, and will be run as a corporate operation by Tulsa, Okla.-based Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc.Most of the 180 employees of the franchisee, Cardinale Leasing Inc., will be rehired by Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Thrifty Car Rental said in a letter to the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
Cardinale bought the Thrifty Car Rental franchise in Hawaii out of bankruptcy for $450,000 in 1999. Thrifty Car Rental has operations on Oahu, Maui, the Big Island and Kauai.
Dollar and Thrifty have about 800 franchised and corporate rental locations in North America.
America West boosts Vegas deals
Kamaaina living in Las Vegas have a good reason to head home, with tour packager America West Vacations offering discounts of up to $200 on seven-night vacation packages.America West is partnering with Hawaiian Airlines and more than 60 hotels and condominium resorts on all islands. Trips must be booked by tomorrow, for travel by June 19.
MAINLAND
Economy inches up 0.7 percent
WASHINGTON >> The economy faltered in the final quarter of last year as consumers -- nervous about a war with Iraq and their own job prospects and stock portfolios -- turned cautious and increased their spending by the smallest amount in nearly a decade.Gross domestic product rose at an annual rate of just 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter, a dramatic slowdown from the previous quarter's solid 4 percent growth rate and ending 2002 on a sour note, the Commerce Department reported today.
For all of 2002, the economy grew by 2.4 percent, a big improvement over the 0.3 percent rise registered in 2001, but still weaker-than-normal growth for the U.S. economy.
