IN HAWAII

Hawaiian Air traffic up after Sept. 11 effects

Hawaiian Airlines carried 404,500 passengers on its scheduled flights last month, up 14.9 percent from 352,002 in September 2001.

Part of the increase was because of the two-day shutdown of the nation's airports after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 last year and the slowdown in tourism that followed. Hawaiian also has since expanded its mainland services.

Hawaiian had 527.5 million available seat miles last month, up 20 percent from 439.6 million in the previous September. A seat mile is one seat flown one mile. Scheduled revenue passenger miles (one paying passenger carried one mile) were up 17 percent at 350.7 million last month, from 299.5 million in a year earlier.

The result was a load factor of 66.5 percent last month, down 1.6 points from 68.1 percent the previous September. Hawaiian's figures combine all its operations -- interisland, mainland-Hawaii and Hawaii-South Pacific. Separately, Hawaiian reported a 17.9 percent decline in September charter passenger volume.

HVCB to attend China trade show next month

The Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau returns next month to the China International Travel Mart 2002, Asia's largest international travel show, to be held at the Shanghai New International Expo Center.

Last year, the show was visited by 10,000 travel trade professionals and 1,000 members of the media, mainly from China, the bureau said. HVCB's exhibit Nov. 14-17 will be themed the "Art of Hula," with participants including Hilton, Sheraton, Hyatt, the Polynesian Cultural Center and the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

ON THE MAINLAND

Microsoft foes say firm is up to its old tricks

WASHINGTON >> As Microsoft awaits court approval of its landmark antitrust settlement with the government, the company has angered some competitors by tightly limiting the technical data it promised to release.

Microsoft says the restrictions are normal for the software industry and do not violate the terms of the settlement. But competitors contend that Microsoft's actions are reminiscent of the behavior that led to the antitrust case and reinforce their claim that the entire settlement is inadequate.

"It has done nothing to level the playing field," said Mark Webbink, general counsel for Red Hat, which sells a version of the Linux operating system that competes with Microsoft's Windows.

Deborah Majoras, the Justice Department's deputy attorney general for antitrust, said her office is aware of the concerns and is closely looking at them.

United will not rule out a fall bankruptcy filing

CHICAGO >> United Airlines said yesterday it is still pushing ahead with talks with its unions, lenders and suppliers in efforts to avoid a bankruptcy filing, although it cannot guarantee it will be able to do so.

The nation's No. 2 airline, which has said it needs substantial concessions to forestall filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this fall, gave no details about the progress of those efforts in a brief update.

The statement was made to announce postponement of its quarterly conference call with analysts tomorrow, the day it releases third-quarter results. United said it would not yet be able to answer questions about the financial recovery plan, which is in progress.

In other news ...

FORT WORTH, Texas >> American Airlines yesterday reported a third-quarter net loss of $924 million, despite a cost-cutting campaign aimed at helping the world's largest carrier recover from hits the industry took after Sept. 11.