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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Friday, March 2, 2001

Isle cruise parent's stock downgraded

A leading securities analyst has downgraded American Classic Voyages Inc. to "market perform" from "market outperform."

The opinion today by Richard P. Simon of Goldman, Sachs & Co. came after yesterday's announcement that the Chicago-based cruise company had losses of $6 million in the final quarter of last year and $10.1 million for all of 2000.

American Classic said the losses resulted from marketing and refitting expenses for adding vessels to its fleet, including the ms Patriot, which went into round-the-islands service in Hawaii in December.

Hawaiian Air names Deister as CFO

Hawaiian Airlines Inc. named a longtime Trans World Airlines executive, Christine R. Deister, as executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Joining Hawaiian yesterday, she replaced William F. Loftus, who was interim chief financial officer since July.

Deister, who joined TWA in London in 1967 as supervisor of international accounting, was TWA's senior vice president-finance and treasurer when she left to join Hawaiian.

Hawaiian yesterday took delivery in Long Beach of a new Boeing 717-200, the first of 13 of the 123-passenger jets ordered to replace its interisland fleet of 15 McDonnell-Douglas DC-9s.

Jailed financier Frankel extradited

Frankfurt, Germany -- Jailed financier Martin Frankel was extradited today from Germany to the United States, where he's accused of defrauding insurance companies of more than $200 million. He faces dozens of state and federal charges for defrauding insurance companies in five states and is expected to be arraigned on Monday

Frankel, 46, departed on a flight from Frankfurt's international airport after being transported from the northern port city of Hamburg, where he was held since his 1999 arrest in a waterfront hotel.

Frankel's last-minute bid for freedom was thwarted earlier this week when Hamburg prison officials caught him trying to saw through the bars of his cell.