Business Briefs
Star-Bulletin staff
and wire services
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HAWAII
Hawaiian Airlines June traffic up
Hawaiian Airlines said yesterday its passenger traffic for June increased 12.6 percent from last year. The carrier hauled 694,348 passengers last month, while recording 653.4 million revenue passenger miles, or one paying passenger transported one mile, down 3.7 percent from last year.
The increase in passenger numbers is the result of Hawaiian's expansion of interisland operations, while the lower average load factor reflects a lower transpacific load factor from higher fares, the carrier said.
Available seat miles, or one seat transported one mile, totaled 801.5 million, 2.8 percent higher than last June, with a load factor of 81.5 percent, 5.5 percentage points lower than last year.
Mesa's go! traffic jumps 34%
Mesa Air Group's interisland carrier go! said yesterday that it carried 86,021 passengers in June, a 34 percent increase from last year's 63,965.
Go! generated 17.9 available seat miles last month, a 39.6 percent increase from last year's 12.8 million, as well as 12.3 revenue passenger miles, a 33 percent jump from 9.2 million.
Load factor for June was 68.7 percent, compared to 72.1 percent last year.
Retirement firm accused of fraud
The state of Hawaii has issued a preliminary order to cease and desist against Texas-based
JAIC Retirement Services Inc. and its president and CEO, Andrew Steger.
Steger is accused of defrauding Hawaii investors in a scheme that netted at least $630,000, according to a statement by the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.
The preliminary order alleges the company solicited investors in Hawaii stating that they would place their money in a "top" bank. Investors were promised up to a 45 percent profit in 370 days. The company is accused of violating the state's securities registration and antifraud provisions, the statement said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOT STUFF: Lead metal operator Steve Koupal skims the impurities off of a mold during a pour at the Pittsburg, PA-based company Alcoa Davenport Works. The aluminum-producing company said its second-quarter earnings fell nearly 24 percent as higher prices failed to offset raw material and facility outage costs.
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NATION
US Airways to pull movie system
TEMPE, Ariz. »
US Airways Group Inc. said it will remove in-flight movie systems from its domestic aircraft to save about $10 million a year in costs.
The carrier decided to pull the entertainment systems because the number of people paying $5 for headsets has dropped even as money spent on jet fuel, maintenance and studio fees has climbed.
The systems will be turned off Nov. 1 and removed from the Airbus SAS A320-family aircraft as the planes undergo other maintenance, the carrier said. Movies are shown on flights of at least 2 1/2 hours.
Southwest to offer Canada flights
DALLAS »
Southwest Airlines Co. said yesterday it plans to offer international service -- a first for the low-fare carrier -- through a deal with Canada's
WestJet.
Southwest said it has taken the first step toward striking a so-called code-sharing agreement and planned to announce schedules and other features of the WestJet partnership by late next year.
The agreement is subject to review by U.S. and Canadian regulators.
Under most code-sharing deals, airlines sell tickets on each other's flights and share the resulting revenue. Southwest passengers could connect to a WestJet flight to Canada. Frequent-flier programs are typically reciprocal.
VMware'S CEO quits; stock drops
PALO ALTO, Calif. »
VMware Inc.'s board chairman, Joe Tucci, said he wanted company cofounder Diane Greene to stay on, but no longer as VMware's chief executive.
Greene's surprise resignation yesterday and a warning that VMware's 2008 revenues would fall short of previous estimates led to a sharp drop in the value of VMware stock.
Shares of EMC Corp., the Hopkinton data storage company that owns 86 percent of VMware, also took a tumble. Greene was replaced by Paul Maritz, founder of Pi Corp., a software firm EMC acquired this year.
BRIEF CASE
DEMAND RISES: Orders for Japanese machinery rose at 10 times the pace economists expected in May, as demand increased for equipment used to make semiconductors and steel.
New Hires / Promotions
» Modern Luxury Media has named
W. Buddy Moore as publisher for Modern Luxury Hawai'i magazine. His previous jobs include sales manager at Sub-Zero/Wolf Hawaii for four years and senior director of This Week publications for more than 12 years.
» Xerox Hawaii has promoted Keith R. Gurney to region services manager from Xerox global services business manager. He will oversee more than 120 employees in the company's newly combined technical and managed service departments in Hawaii and Micronesia. He has served the company for more than 24 years.
» American Savings Bank has announced the following promotions:
* Rian DuBach to vice president, community development from community development department manager. He will oversee community and government relations, and regulatory compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act. He joined the bank in 2004 as a commercial banking officer.
* Brad Fujino to assistant vice president, cash management project manager. He will continue his duties in developing and implementing new cash management products, enhancing existing products and supervising the product support team. His 15 years of experience with the bank include positions in retail banking, information technology and commercial services.
* Cheryl Nagaki to vice president, commercial account services manager from assistant vice president, commercial account services manager. She will continue to oversee a highly specialized team that supports the bank's commercial banking officers and their customers. She joined the bank in 2003, working more than 25 years in the banking industry.
» Aon Corp. has hired Michael Grossi as executive vice president of Aon Risk Services in Hawaii and managing director of Aon Construction Services Group. His 20 years of risk management experience include providing surety and insurance brokering services with Atlas Construction Services.