Hawaiian Airlines plans to lease 4 more 737s

Hawaiian Airlines Inc. said it has signed a letter of intent to lease four more Boeing 737-300ER jets, which will bring its total of the two-aisle widebody aircraft to seven. The latest order is from International Lease Finance Corp. and Hawaiian said it hopes to take delivery of the planes in the first and second quarters of next year.

Earlier, Hawaiian said it arranged to lease three of the extended-range aircraft from Ansett Worldwide Aviation Inc., a Morgan Stanley subsidiary, for delivery in October, November and December this year. The airline says the twinjet aircraft are much more efficient than the three-engine McDonnell Douglas DC-10s that they will replace on its long-range routes. Hawaiian has 14 DC-10s configured for 299 to 304 seats.

The 767s will have 18 passengers in first class and 234 in coach.

AT&T hikes rates up to 11% on basic residential calls

WASHINGTON >> AT&T Corp., the nation's biggest long-distance telephone company, said today it was raising basic per-minute residential calling rates as much as 11 percent.

Effective July 1, weekday long-distance calls made from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. will rise to 30 cents a minute, up from 29.5 cents a minute while weekday calls from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. will go up to 25 cents a minute from 22.5 cents a minute, an 11 percent hike. AT&T said its weekend calls under the basic rate plan will cost 16 cents, up from 14.5 cents, a 10 percent gain.

Cable & Wireless clears hurdle to buy Digital Island

WASHINGTON >> Cable & Wireless Plc won U.S. antitrust clearance for its bid to acquire struggling Honolulu-founded Internet firm Digital Island for $340 million, the British telecommunications firm said yesterday.

Termination of the so-called Hart-Scott-Rodino review period to determine whether the acquisition would pose any competitive harms was granted by the Federal Trade Commission Wednesday, the company said. Additionally, Cable & Wireless said the deal will not require a review by the U.K. Office of Fair Trading or the European Commission. The deal is subject to other customary conditions and the tender offer for Digital shares expires June 18 unless extended, according to the companies.

American Air, attendants to resume contract talks

FORT WORTH, Texas >> Contract talks between American Airlines and its flight attendants' union will resume next week, nearly three weeks before the earliest possible strike date.

The National Mediation Board yesterday received the union's notice that it was declining binding arbitration to settle the contract dispute. That notice officially started a 30-day strike countdown.

If no agreement is reached by June 30, the 23,000 American flight attendants would be free to strike at 12:01 a.m. on July 1.

However, airline officials say they believe President Bush would step in and use his power to prevent a strike, at least for 60 days. Talks will resume Tuesday in Washington.

[Taking Notice]

NEW JOBS

>> Richard L. Sherman has been named legal and general business consultant for Goodsill, Anderson, Quinn & Stifel. He will assist its technology and health practice groups.

>> Gerald Glennon has been named executive assistant manager at the Halekulani. He will oversee the operational departments of the hotel. Glennon was most recently general manager for Sofitel Miami in Florida.

PROMOTIONS

>> Mari Yonesaki has been named senior director of operations for the Adtech Division of Spirent Communications. She will be responsible for overseeing departments including post-sales customer support, human resources, information technology, facilities and administration. Yonesaki has been with Adtech for 13 years.

>> Bradford K. Ishida has been named vice president at First Hawaii Title Corp. Ishida will continue to serve in his present capacity as title manager and chief title officer for the company. He has more than 22 years of title industry experience.