HAWAII

SunTrips cuts number of Hawaii charters

Starting this weekend, a San Jose-based marketer of charter flights to Hawaii, SunTrips Inc., will drop three of its five flights a week to Honolulu from Oakland. For the month of September, SunTrips will run one flight on Friday and one on Saturday, dropping Sunday, Monday and Thursday flights. In October, it will restore the Monday flights.

The company uses 379-passenger McDonnell-Douglas DC-10 widebody jets in the Hawaii service.

SunTrips said Aloha Airlines, which also flies Oakland-Honolulu, is able to pick up the slack and its passengers won't be inconvenienced. SunTrips offers air and hotel packages, fly-drive trips and sells air-only tickets to Honolulu. The company, a subsidiary of MyTravel Group Plc, has operated in the Hawaii market since 1977.

SunTrips officials said the decision to cut Hawaii flights was made in early August because of low demand, particularly around Sept. 11.

Hawaiian Air finalizes parent company

Hawaiian Airlines Inc.'s formation of a new parent company was finalized yesterday as the airline completed its restructuring.

The airline will continue with the same name and will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings Inc., which has been incorporated in Delaware. Hawaiian Airlines will continue to be operated as a Hawaii corporation with its current business, operations and management unchanged by the restructuring.

Shareholders approved the change last week with 79.4 percent of the vote in favor of the move. The proposal required 75 percent of the votes to pass.

Hawaiian Airlines shareholders will have their stock exchanged on a 1-for-1 basis into shares of the new holding company. The stock will continue to trade on the American Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol HA.

MAINLAND

Machinists will hold new strike vote

SEATTLE >> The Machinists union said today that results of a vote on a new contract with the Boeing Co. would remain sealed and a new vote taken.

Mark Blondin, president of the Machinists Local District 751, said confusion surrounding yesterday's vote had prompted the decision.

The contract expires at midnight Sunday.

"There's a lot of confusion out there with our membership," he said.

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service yesterday asked negotiators from Boeing and the Machinists union to report to its headquarters in Washington, D.C., next Wednesday. The agency sought continued talks to avert a potential walkout by the union's 25,000 members at Boeing plants in Washington state; Portland, Ore.; and Wichita, Kan.

The union agreed, saying it welcomed a chance to improve upon a "horrendous" offer. Boeing said it would participate in the meeting but would not alter its offer.

Union members will continue to work after the contract expires, leaders said. Boeing said employees are welcome to return to work under terms of the existing contract.

JAPAN

Japan jobless rate steady, economy slow

TOKYO >> Japan's jobless rate stood unchanged at 5.4 percent in July, the 13th straight month it has marked 5 percent or higher, despite signs the worst may be finally over in the nation's long economic downturn.

Also today, the government said that the economy managed to grow 0.5 percent in the quarter through June but revised figures now show gross domestic product had shrank steadily for the four previous quarters -- the first time this country marked four consecutive quarters of contraction since the government began keeping track in 1980.