Go! offers $49 holiday fare

Mesa Air Group's go! is offering holiday one-way fares starting as low as $49 between Honolulu and Lihue, Kahului, Kona and Hilo.

Tickets must be purchased by today and are applicable for travel through Dec. 31. Tickets are nonrefundable and changes can be made for $20, plus applicable differences in airfare.

Separately, Go! and Mondial Assistance have announced a partnership that will offer go! passengers the option to purchase Access America travel insurance protection for any trip.

Confirmed passengers on go! flights will be directed to a co-branded Web site through a link in their itinerary confirmation. Eventually, the insurance will be offered as part of the existing go! booking path at http://www.iflygo.com.

Mondial Assistance's Access America insurance products also include travel assistance services and a concierge service—all through a multilingual, 24-hour hot line.

Mokulele's new service to debut

Mokulele Airlines, partnering with Indianapolis-based Republic Airways, will conduct its inaugural flights tomorrow with two 70-seat Embraer 170 jets.

The first flight will leave Honolulu at 7:19 a.m. bound for Lihue and will depart Lihue at 8:20 a.m. and return to Honolulu at 8:49 a.m. Another inaugural flight will leave Kona at 7:23 a.m. and arrive in Honolulu at 8:03 a.m. Other flights are scheduled throughout the day.

Mokulele's expansion brings new competition to the interisland market after the demised of Aloha Airlines at the end of March.

Pacific Rim Bank ups insurance

Pacific Rim Bank, whose only branch is at Restaurant Row, is offering Certificate of Deposit Account Registry Services, or CDARS, which will allow customers to access up to $50 million in Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insurance.

In 1980, Congress set FDIC coverage limits at $100,000 per deposit account, which recently was increased to $250,000 until Dec. 31, 2009. But Pacific Rim is offering the CDARS program in which the bank places customer certificates of deposit with other FDIC-insured banks, allowing customers to manage all their funds through one portfolio at Pacific Rim Bank.

For more information, call 585-9600 or go to pacificrimbank.com.

Alaska Air debuts Kona service

Alaska Airlines began offering daily, year-round service yesterday between Seattle an Kona.

Flights from Seattle will depart daily at 8:40 a.m. Pacific time and arrive at 1 p.m. Hawaii time. Return flights will depart at 2 p.m. Hawaii time and arrive at 9:40 p.m. Pacific time.

To celebrate the new service, Alaska Airlines Vacations is offering a package price of $675 for round-trip airfare between Seattle and Kona and four nights' accommodations. The price is based on double occupancy.

Target to slash prices

NEW YORK » Target Corp. said yesterday it will aggressively cut prices to give consumers bargains during the holiday season, even as weak sales of its apparel and home offerings resulted in third-quarter earnings falling 24 percent.

The discount retailer also said sales in established stores have been weak so far in November, and if that persists it expects fourth-quarter earnings below analyst expectations.

Target added $104 million during the quarter to a reserve fund to cover future write-offs as customers have trouble paying their bills.

TAKING NOTICE

Promotions / new hires

» Hawaii Public Radio has promoted Bernadette Ku'uipo Shimono to vice president of finance. She joined the company in 1992 as controller and has also served as an accountant/account receivable supervisor and bursar at Chaminade University.

» Starwood Hotels & Resorts Hawaii has promoted John Dominguez to director of sales and marketing for the Sheraton Kauai Resort and the Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas. He joined Starwood in 2004 as senior sales manager and was previously director of group sales at Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa.

» Notkin Hawaii has promoted Sachin Shah to principal. He has served the company for seven years in the design of HVAC, plumbing and fire protection systems for projects including The Watermark and Trump International Hotel & Tower in Waikiki.

> Humana of Hawaii has named Carol Sato director of Medicare operations. Her experience includes director of benefits administration at Kaiser Foundation Health Plan in Hawaii from 2006-2008, director of product development from 1995-2006 and various supervisory and nursing positions with Kaiser Permanente of Hawaii.

BOARD ELECTIONS

» The Hawaii Solar Energy Association has elected Mark Duda as president. He currently serves as vice president of finance for Suntech Hawaii and is also a board member of the Hawaii PV Coalition.