Hawaiian Air passengers decreased in March

Hawaiian Airlines carried 491,790 passengers in its scheduled services in March, 2 percent fewer than the 501,688 to carried in March 2001. The airline was running at reduced capacity last month, offering 435.4 million seat-miles, down 4.1 percent from the year-earlier 454.1 million. One seat-mile represents one seat available for one mile of service.

The result was that Hawaiian improved its load factor, the percentage of available seats occupied by paying passengers, to 82.1 percent from 79.4 percent in March 2001.

The airline's figures cover all its scheduled flights, with mainland and South Pacific services added to interisland services. It does not report on individual segments.

First Hawaiian warns of Visa identity theft scam

Visa USA is reporting a new identity theft scam designed to obtain credit card holders' personal data and account information, according to First Hawaiian Bank.

The cardholder receives a letter purporting to be from the "Visa Department of International Investigations." The letter says that says that the customer's credit card has been canceled until further notice because of suspicion that it has been used in criminal activity. It also says a Visa investigator will contact the cardholder by phone within two days to verify information. The letter notes that the customer's bank cannot help until the investigation is over and warns of possible serious legal consequences for the cardholder.

First Hawaiian notes that no credit card issuer would ever call a customer asking for card information over the telephone and warns consumers not to give out account information.

Visa USA reports that the scam may have begun in Canada and spread to the United States.

Some U.S. airlines raise leisure fares by $20

Houston >> U.S. airlines, led by Continental Airlines Inc., raised leisure fares for the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks reduced demand and generated record losses.

Continental, the fifth-largest U.S. carrier, raised round- trip leisure fares by $20 Thursday and was matched by American Airlines' AMR Corp., Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. on some or all of their routes.

While some analysts questioned whether the increase would last because of Northwest's limited participation, others said carriers need the revenue boost.

"We've been saying for a long time that we needed air fares to go up because the airlines couldn't make money," said Buckingham Research analyst Helane Becker.

Airlines cut fares after the attacks to spur travel demand. Passenger traffic fell as much as 40 percent shortly after the attacks and was down 9.8 percent in this year's first three months.

Discount fares have helped rebuild demand while business travel at higher fares has remained weak. U.S. carriers had an estimated $2.2 billion loss in the first quarter, analysts said.

In other news . . .

WASHINGTON >> Merck & Co.'s high blood pressure medicine Cozaar won support of a federal panel yesterday, moving it closer to becoming the only drug approved for delaying kidney deterioration in people with adult onset diabetes.