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[ HAWAII INC. ]

NEW JOBS

>> Matthew K. Hall has been named director of golf at the Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu's North Shore. He will be responsible for the management and promotion of the resort's two 18-hole courses, as well as overseeing the annual PGA tour Turtle Bay Championship at the resort. Hall has held assistant golf professional positions at the Hapuna Golf Course on the Big Island, Cog Hill Golf and Country Club in Lemont, Ill., and the Yale University Golf Course in New Haven, Conn.

>> Bill Breeden has joined Finance Factors as a senior loan officer and East Oahu mortgage center manager. Robert Leiferman has also joined the company as a Maui mortgage center residential loan officer. Both are responsible for the origination of the company's residential mortgage loan products in their respective locations. Breedan most recently served as a GMAC Mortgage senior loan officer. Leiferman previously served as a GE Capital Hawaii branch manager.

>> SMG Hawaii has named Jacob Silver as Hawaii Convention Center banquet sous chef. He will assist the center's executive chef with the kitchen's daily operation, including ordering, staffing, production and general supervision. He most recently served as entremetier and garde manger at Alain Ducasse at the Essex House in New York.

>> Barbara Hicks has been named director of sales and marketing for the Fairmont Orchid. She is responsible for managing all sales and marketing efforts for the 540-room Big Island resort, as well as increasing the brand awareness of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts in Hawaii, which includes the Orchid and the Fairmont Kea Lani on Maui. Hicks has more than 20 years of experience, 16 of which were spent with Fairmont Hotels & Resorts in Canada. Also at the Orchid, Krista Bentley has been named director of leisure sales. She has seven years of experience with Fairmont.

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HAWAII

Mililani center to break ground

Mililani real estate entrepreneur Bruce Brodkin has announced plans for a new retail center at the Gentry Business Park in Waipio. Groundbreaking will take place Wednesday for Ka Uka Center, on a 30,000-square-foot lot between Waipio Costco and the Tony Autoplex.

Tenants already committed include The Auto Spa, Seattle's Best Coffee, a Subway sandwich outlet and Munchies, a crackseed and candy shop. There will be 5,200 square feet of retail space plus a 2,200-square-foot Quick Lube operation. Brodkin said 80 percent of the space has been leased and the project should be completed in October.

Hawaiian capacity tops demand

Hawaiian Airlines' March passenger count dipped 2.4 percent to 480,062, compared to 491,790 in March 2002.

The airline said 74 percent of its available seats were occupied last month, a drop of 8.1 percentage points from 82.1 percent in the previous March. That was because it increased its capacity and passenger numbers did not match the increase, said the airline.

Hawaiian said it had 560.8 million available seat miles last month, up 28.8 percent from 435.4 million in the previous March. The seat-miles figure shows the number of seats times the total number of miles flown by the airline. Revenue passenger miles, the number of passengers times the miles they flew, were up 16.1 percent at 415.1 million from 357.5 million in March 2002.

Hawaiian's monthly report combines the total for its mainland-Hawaii, interisland and Hawaii-South Pacific services.

Japan group books return trip

Japanese company Diana group, which met for a convention at the Hawaii Convention Center in February, has committed to coming back for annual meetings starting in 2005, the center said.

The Diana group brought 2,509 attendees to the convention center this year, less than the expected attendance of 3,200. The convention center estimates the group spent $3.75 million in Hawaii, or about $1,500 per person.

Diana is headed to Anaheim, Calif., for its 2004 meeting, but has confirmed definite bookings for Hawaii in 2005 and 2006, the center said.

MAINLAND

MasterCard settles debit card trial

NEW YORK >> MasterCard International has agreed to a settlement in a closely watched lawsuit with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and millions of other retailers over its debit card policies, a MasterCard spokesman said today.

An order by a New York judge prevents the parties from talking publicly about the details of the settlement, the spokesman said.

The retailers accused MasterCard and Visa U.S.A. of antitrust violations. They said rules that require merchants to accept their signature-verified debit cards impose additional costs that get passed on to consumers. They also said the card associations have used their market power to stifle competition from smaller rivals.

U.S. District Court Judge John Gleeson announced the settlement in court this morning, just before jury selection began. Opening statements had been expected this afternoon, but Gleeson granted Visa's request that they be delayed until Wednesday in light of the MasterCard settlement.

Longs acquires mail-order pharmacy

Walnut Creek, Calif. >> Longs Drug Stores Corp., which operates 459 stores in six U.S. states, has bought closely held mail-order pharmacy American Diversified Pharmacies Inc.

Terms weren't disclosed in a Longs press release.

Longs said in February that it planned to fire 170 people after fiscal fourth-quarter profit fell 71 percent to $6.4 million, or 17 cents a share. The company has stores in California, Hawaii, Washington, Nevada, Colorado and Oregon.

American Diversified is based in Sacramento, Calif.

Longs shares closed up 31 cents, or 2 percent, at $15.70 on the New York Stock Exchange. They have fallen 24.5 percent this year.

California home prices leap to a new record

California's housing values continued to sizzle during March as the median price of a previously owned home soared to a record $352,780, an annual gain of 15.3 percent, an industry tracker said.

March marked the first time that the median price broke through the $350,000 threshold and the 16th consecutive month of double-digit price appreciation, said the Los Angeles-based California Association of Realtors. Last month also shattered the old price record of $339,570 reached in December.

Pedal-power gains on gas guzzlers

In these days of pricey gasoline, is riding a bicycle a viable alternative to driving? It is for some people, according to a Bell Sports survey of 547 people earlier this month.

Half said they are driving less because of higher gas prices, and 47 percent said they're considering using a bike instead.

The survey, which was split between urban and suburban residents, found that 61 percent said they had altered their discretionary spending because of gas prices and 27 percent said they had reduced the budget for their vacation.