Hawaiian planes fuller, fliers fewer

Hawaiian Airlines’ planes were 85.7 percent full in September, up 1.9 percentage points from the same month a year earlier, the carrier said yesterday.

But the total number of passengers flown during the month dropped to 658,211, a 3.7 percent decline from September 2009.

Revenue per available seat mile, which measures how much money Hawaiian made flying each paying passenger one mile, rose 8.3 percent in September.

For the first nine months of the year, Hawaiian’s planes were 85.4 percent full, up 1.7 percentage points from the same period a year ago.

Navy starts building day-care center

The Navy has broken ground on a day-care center at Pearl Harbor.

The Child Development Center for children ages 6 weeks to 5 years old will be the first to be built on Ford Island and the third at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

Base commander Capt. Richard Kitchens said Wednesday the center will help look after hundreds of children waiting for spots to open at child care centers.

The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific awarded the nearly $16 million contract for the design and construction of the facility to the RMA-ECC, LCC joint venture of Anaheim, Calif., in December.

The building is due to be finished in January 2012.

Outrigger consolidates in Thailand

Outrigger Enterprises Group of Honolulu has consolidated its Australia and Fiji operations at its Asian office in Phuket, Thailand.

Outrigger has two properties in Australia — the Outrigger Twin Towns Resort and the Outrigger Little Hastings Street Resort & Spa — and one in Fiji: the Outrigger on the Lagoon.

President and CEO David Carey said Wednesday that the company wants to expand in Australia again after the sale of its properties there in 2007.

He says realignment of Outrigger’s operations and marketing will enable the company to take advantage of a number of regional marketing opportunities.

Cruise ships can get cleaner energy

SAN FRANCISCO » Cruise ships that dock in San Francisco now have access to a cleaner energy source.

Officials unveiled equipment Wednesday that allows the ships to plug in to the city’s electricity grid instead of relying on on-board diesel generators for power. Those generators release noxious particulates that are blamed for increasing rates of bronchitis, asthma and other lung ailments.

The new power source comes from hydroelectric plants in the Sierra Nevada mountains. It does require each ship to be upgraded at a cost of about $1 million, but officials say the ships’ operators will save money in the long run.

The $5.2 million shore-side power system is the first in California and among only a handful around the world.

Los Angeles, San Diego and Long Beach are working on similar systems.

ON THE MOVE

Outrigger Enterprises Group has appointed Eva Hang, a certified public accountant, as internal audit manager. She was previously a controller for Pipeline Micro as well as an internal auditor for the state Department of Education.

The North Hawaii Drug-Free Coalition has appointed Deanna Kackley as program coordinator. She was previously with Hawaii National Guard Education and Health Programs for the past five years developing the About Face program, which focuses on skills training for ages 13 to 17.

Toyota steps up efforts to woo back U.S. buyers

TOKYO » Aiming to win back customer trust after its string of recalls, Toyota Motor Corp. is offering American buyers of new Toyota- and Scion-brand vehicles two years of regular scheduled maintenance and 24-hour roadside assistance for free.

The plans, announced Wednesday in a press release from the automaker’s U.S. headquarters in Torrance, Calif., makes permanent a program that started this spring.

The move is aimed at restoring customer confidence after the Japanese automaker recalled more than 10 million vehicles worldwide over the last year for a wide range of problems, including gas pedals that got stuck.

Toyota decided to make the program standard after 73 percent of customers who bought cars under the free maintenance program said it improved their confidence in the company, the release said.