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Hawaiian lawyers deliver big bill

Hawaiian Airlines' legal fees in April came to nearly $1 million for its out-of-state bankruptcy attorneys, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court filing revealed yesterday. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, which has attorneys in New York and Los Angeles, billed the carrier $982,569 for compensation and reimbursement. Of that total, $942,153 is for the law firm's hourly rates and $40,416 represents out-of-pocket disbursements.

Under terms of the Bankruptcy Court fee order, Hawaiian is liable for 80 percent, or $753,722.40, of the hourly-rate compensation now and must pay the remainder when the reorganization is completed. Hawaiian also must pay the entire out-of-pocket expense now.

First Hawaiian to buy headquarters

BancWest Corp. will spend $194 million later this year to buy First Hawaiian Center, the 30-story office building in downtown Honolulu that houses its headquarters and the offices of its subsidiary, First Hawaiian Bank.

The building, completed in 1996 for $175 million, was developed with financing from Dana Commercial Credit Corp., a subsidiary of Ohio-based Dana Corp. Dana subsidiary Refirst Inc. was established to own the building, which is presently 95 percent leased.

BancWest, which occupies nearly half the building, has been paying more than $600,000 a month in rent to Refirst. In its financial report for the first quarter of this year, BancWest said that when its lease runs out Dec. 1 it will exercise an option to buy the building.

State approves Kaiser rate hike

The state Insurance Division has granted Kaiser Permanente's request for an 8.9 percent premium rate increase to its most popular medical plan.

Kaiser has been notified by the division that all its plan rate requests had been approved, said Kaiser spokeswoman Jan Kagehiro.

Last year, Kaiser lost more than $2.8 million on its health plan operations.

University Health Alliance, which has been under state supervision since June 2001, applied for and was granted a 10 percent premium rate increase. That increase went into effect Jan. 1.

Hawaii Medical Service Association had requested an 11. 5 percent rate increase for its small business customers to take effect July 1. The division instead granted a 9.87 percent increase.

Kakaako parking study funded

The first step toward what could be a $20 million parking complex near Kakaako Waterfront Park was taken yesterday when the Hawaii Community Development Authority authorized spending $215,000 for an initial study.

In the waterfront business plan it approved in October, the HCDA estimated as many as 2,000 parking stalls could be needed to support commercial activities and a proposed marine research center and aquarium in the makai part of Kakaako.

Current thinking at the HCDA, the state agency responsible for the area, is for two six-story parking structures. The commercial and educational developments won't go ahead unless there is an assurance of enough parking, according to HCDA reports. The money voted yesterday, cut from $718,500 proposed a month ago but not voted on, is for a feasibility study estimating future parking needs. It will also cover establishing design criteria for the first parking structure, which would hold 1,000 cars.

Japan Airlines cuts employee bonuses

Japan Airlines System Corp., Asia's biggest carrier, said it may cut the winter bonus payment of some employees by 10 percent to preserve cash after the war in Iraq and SARS caused a slump in revenue from flight bookings.

The carrier's Japan Airlines Co. unit yesterday discussed the planned cut with its biggest labor union, which consists of 10,700 employees, spokesman Tatsuo Yoshimura said.

Japan Airlines, like other carriers in Asia, has trimmed its flight schedule as demand declined. The airline said last month it expects a net loss of &YEN43 billion ($365 million) for the fiscal year through March 2004.

Japan Airlines in March agreed to pay two months worth of salaries to workers for summer and winter bonuses for the current year, Yoshimura said. It plans to pay the summer bonus, and ask employees to accept a reduction of the winter payment.

Japan Airlines said the number of international passengers on its flights probably fell by half in May.

In other news ...

>> Former Rite Aid executive Franklyn Bergonzi pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of conspiracy, just days before he was to go on trial with two other former executives for what prosecutors say was an attempt to defraud shareholders.

>> AOL Time Warner Inc. has decided not to sell its book division after failing to receive what it thought were adequate bids, a company spokeswoman said yesterday.

>> Mortgage rates around the country tumbled to new lows this week, as the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to a record low of 5.26 percent.

>> Intel Corp. narrowed its second-quarter revenue forecast yesterday, saying sales of microprocessors were at the high end of normal while demand for communications chips remained soft.

>> Visa and MasterCard have given final approval to deals that will pay more than $3 billion to thousands of U.S. retailers over the next decade to settle a major antitrust lawsuit.