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Fitch downgrades Verizon Hawaii

Fitch Ratings has downgraded the senior unsecured debt of Verizon Hawaii from A- to BB+ and the company's first mortgage bonds from A to BBB- following the announcement that the local telephone company was being sold by Verizon Communications Inc. for $1.65 billion to the private-equity Carlyle Group.

In addition, Verizon Hawaii has been placed on "rating watch negative." The rating action affects $425 million of publicly outstanding debt.

At the end of last year, Verizon Hawaii had approximately $650 million in debt outstanding, including $425 million of publicly traded debt, with the remainder largely consisting of a note payable to a Verizon affiliate.

A day earlier, Moody's Investors Service put Verizon Hawaii's long-term credit ratings on review for possible downgrade.

Waipio to get self-storage facility

Pegasus Group, a Walnut Creek, Calif.-based real estate investment and management firm, said it will build a 70,000-square-foot self-storage property in Gentry Business Park in Waipio.

To be called Central Self Storage Waipio, the site is next to Costco and the Kaiser Permanente clinic. Construction will begin this summer, with occupancy slated for the first quarter of next year.

Ex-airline exec to appear on CNBC

Don Carty, who is being proposed as the next chairman of Hawaiian Airlines by parent company Hawaiian Holdings Inc., will appear as a guest host on national financial network CNBC (Oceanic analog Channel 39, digital Channel 116) at 1 a.m. Friday.

Carty, the former president and chief executive officer of American Airlines, will give his opinion on the state of the airline industry.

Hawaiian ranks high in filling seats

Hawaiian Airlines continues to rank among the top carriers in the nation for filling the greatest percentage of available seats.

The airline said yesterday that it finished second in that category last month among the 29 reporting U.S.-based carriers, according to trade publication Aviation Daily. Hawaiian ranked first for the first four months of the year.

The airline, which posted an 84.6 percent load factor for scheduled systemwide operations, improved 5.6 percentage points from 79 percent in April 2003. Hawaiian's load factor of 82.7 percent for the first four months of 2004 was up 10 percentage points from 72.7 percent a year ago.

JetBlue had the best load factor in April at 86.3 percent and was second behind Hawaiian year-to-date with 81.6 percent.

Hawaiian attracted more passengers in April than in the year-earlier period as traffic rose 7.2 percent to 464,526 from 433,315.

Longs renovating, but not in isles

Longs Drug Stores Corp., which operates 31 stores in Hawaii and 471 nationwide, said yesterday it is remodeling 40 stores nationwide this year. The Hawaii stores are not included in the renovations, a spokesman said.

The Walnut Creek, Calif.-based company said it is planning to open five to 10 stores this year. It also will relocate its Kailua store, which is to open Aug. 1, and its Menlo Park, Calif., store.

JAL passenger traffic may double this month

Japan Airlines System Corp., Asia's largest carrier, may carry about double the number of passengers on international flights this month as it did a year ago, as demand recovers from last year's SARS epidemic and the Iraq war.

Overseas passenger numbers may surge by 94 percent, after a 54 percent increase in April, the airline said in a statement without giving the total numbers. Domestic passenger numbers will probably fall 5 percent in May, following a 3 percent drop last month, it said.

The Tokyo-based carrier expects to post net income of 36 billion yen ($322.3 million) in the year ending March 2005, as travel demand recovers from the slump caused by the deadly SARS virus and concerns about terrorism. In the year ended March 31, Japan Airlines reported its biggest-ever loss of 88.6 billion yen.

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[Hawaii Inc.]

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NEW JOBS

>> Milici Valenti Ng Pack has hired two employees, Jennifer Chong and Richard Tillotson. Chong has joined the agency as a senior art director. She is responsible for conceptualizing and designing print and broadcast advertising. Tillotson was named strategic planning and business development manager. He is responsible for managing client strategic planning and planning new business developments for the agency.

>> Sub-Zero & Wolf, manufacturers of luxury refrigeration and appliances, appointed Jean Nakanishi operations manager. She will be responsible for overseeing Hawaii operations for the company's product distribution, and managing the daily operations of the company's new showroom in Honolulu. She previously held successive operations and sales management positions in the hotel industry.

>>CB Richard Ellis Hawaii appointed James D. Hasenyager senior property manager of Kukui Grove Shopping Center and Commercial Village. He will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the shopping center and neighboring properties including maintenance, financial management, tenant relations and lease administration.

>> Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing hired Shannon M.I. Lau. She has more than five years of legal experience in Honolulu and served with the California Court of Appeals, San Francisco.