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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Monday, January 24, 2000

ATA adding direct L.A.-Maui flight

American Trans Air Inc. on May 13 will introduce its first Los Angeles-Maui-Los Angeles service that flies direct both ways with no stop in Honolulu. The airline currently has five round-trip flights a week between Los Angeles and Honolulu, four of which go on to Maui before returning via Honolulu. The airline is the main subsidiary of Indianapolis-based Amtran Inc. In addition to its scheduled services in the Hawaii market, ATA is a major factor in Hawaii tourism through its charter operations for Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays.

Planet Hollywood reorganization OK'd

A federal judge in Orlando, Fla., has approved Planet Hollywood International Inc.'s bankruptcy reorganization plan, through which it plans to keep operating its Waikiki restaurant, 20 others on the mainland and 10 overseas.

Before it filed for bankruptcy in October, the company closed nine U.S. restaurants, including the Lahaina restaurant it had operated since 1994 and sold its Official All Star Cafe in Waikiki to the developers of the nearby King Kalakaua Plaza.

The Planet Hollywood in Waikiki opened in August 1995.

Mexican company buying CompUSA

DALLAS -- CompUSA Inc., the largest U.S. computer superstore chain and owner of two stores in Hawaii, said it agreed to be bought by Mexican retail group Grupo Sanborns SA for $797.7 million in cash.

Grupo Sanborns will pay $10.10 for each common share of CompUSA that it doesn't already own, or a 50 premium to the retailer's closing price of $6.75 on Friday. Grupo Sanborns indirectly owns about 14.8 percent of CompUSA. CompUSA opened its first Hawaii outlet, a 40,000-square-foot computer superstore at Ala Moana and South Street, in June 1998. A week later, CompUSA bought Computer City, which had a 30,000-square-foot store at Waikele, and turned that into a CompUSA.