Company closes Moana Vista buy

OliverMcMillan of San Diego closed its purchase yesterday of the unfinished Moana Vista condominium project on Kapiolani Boulevard.

The project, which was headed to foreclosure auction due to a $29.5 million lien, was nearly half-built by developer KC Rainbow as a mixed-use residential tower with 492 units. OliverMcMillan has renamed the project Pacifica.

Dan Nishikawa, OliverMcMillan's development director, said the company plans to add resort-level amenities, improve upper-unit floor plans and upgrade the interior design. OliverMcMillan plans to restart the project in 2010, and will notify previous buyers of their priority for purchase of a unit.

Airlines long for business travelers

DALLAS » Airlines value premium travelers above other customers, letting them board first, eat a meal and order a cocktail without whipping out a credit card.

Many of them are business travelers who fly frequently and often pay higher last-minute fares than the jeans-and-T-shirt crowd on the way to see grandma. Anyone who questions why airlines treat business travelers nicely only needs to look at the carriers' third-quarter financial reports.

Yesterday, American Airlines parent AMR Corp. reported that it lost $359 million in the third quarter, and Continental Airlines Inc. posted an $18 million loss. Those results followed losses in the last few days reported by Southwest Airlines Co. and United parent UAL Corp.

Overall traffic is picking up. Planes were mostly full during the summer vacation period and through September.

But revenue at the biggest airlines plunged about one-fifth from the levels of summer 2008, largely because business travelers stayed home, grounded by cutbacks in corporate travel during the recession.

Boeing posts $1.56 billion loss

Boeing's ambitions seem to have outflown its abilities, as the company's plans to reinvent the way jetliners are built keep faltering, forcing it to post a big loss in the third quarter. The airplane maker has struggled to get its 787 passenger plane and a revamped version of the 747 jumbo jet off the ground. Delays, parts shortages and last-minute fixes have cost it billions in extra expenses and lost years. That's on top of weak demand for aircraft as air travel and freight shipments take a hit during the recession.

But Boeing's troubles have arisen partly from a new approach to plane building. In recent years, the company has outsourced manufacturing and engineering work to suppliers around the world. It also started using carbon composite parts to reduce weight and improve fuel efficiency.

During the quarter, Boeing's sales edged up 9 percent, but charges of more than $3.6 billion for the 787 and 747-8 programs resulted in a loss of $1.56 billion.

Central Pacific offers furlough care

Central Pacific Bank will provide employees with child care in response to public school teacher furloughs. On furlough days, Kamaaina Kids will be watching children at the Central Pacific Plaza location. The service is available for children age 5 to 13 from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The cost is $15 per day.

ON THE MOVE

  Tropical Villa Vacations has named Lisa Carson as Villas general manager. She was chief concierge at Four Seasons Las Vegas as well as concierge at Four Seasons Resort Hualalai and Four Seasons Resort Wailea.

Avatar International, a national provider of improvement services to the health care industry, has awarded the Exceeding Patient Expectations award to Kaiser Permanente Hawaii. Kaiser's Permanente Moanalua Medical Center is the only hospital in Hawaii and one of 23 Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, among 109 inpatient and ambulatory surgical centers in the country, to receive the award.