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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Wednesday, March 14, 2001

Hawaiian Air's new
plane gets christened

By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
First lady Vicky Cayetano splashes champagne on the nose
of 'I'iwi, the first new Boeing 717-200 jet in a $430 million
fleet replacement at Hawaiian Airlines. Gov. Ben Cayetano,
center, and Paul J. Casey, vice chairman and CEO of the
airline, assist in the ceremony. The airline showed off
the new 123-seat plane at Honolulu Airport yesterday.
By the end of this year, Hawaiian will have 13 of the
717s in service and all 15 of its 133-seat
DC-9-50s will be gone.

---

Hilo Hattie parent taps top execs

Pomare Ltd., the parent company of tourist-related clothing and gift business Hilo Hattie, named Paul deVille as its new chief executive. He was president and chief operating officer of Persis Corp., former owner of the Honolulu Advertiser, and ASA Properties Inc., the Twigg-Smith family's real estate business. Darrell Metzger joined Hilo Hattie as president and CEO. He was president and chief executive officer of Atlantis Adventures, owner of Atlantis Submarines and Navatek Cruises. Jim Romig remains Pomare chairman. The company said deVille has overall responsibility for the business, including its capital and real estate requirements. Metzger runs day-to-day operations, including retailing and manufacturing.

Isles' ARC workers vote to unionize

Employees of ARC in Hawaii, formerly the Association of Retarded Citizens, voted to be represented by a national health care union, NAGE/SEIU, AFL-CIO. The union said 194 of the 231 eligible employees in ARC's nonprofessional unit voted and the result was 106-84 for the union. The 13 professional employees chose to remain nonunion.

Hawaii contractor expands to Alaska

Hawaii-based Dick Pacific Construction has opened an office in Anchorage, Alaska, to handle an expected increase in business in that state. The company has joint ventures in Anchorage and Fairbanks. Thomas Ojala, who has been in the Alaska construction business for 26 years, heads the new office. Dick Pacific, which has about 800 employees and operations in Hawaii and the Pacific Rim, is a division of Pittsburgh-based Dick Corp.

In other news . . .

NEW YORK -- Northwest Airlines Corp. said it would post a sizable loss in the quarter as the slowing economy cuts into high-paying corporate travel.