Alaska Air expands Bay Area service to Kauai, Big Isle

Alaska Airlines is expanding San Francisco Bay Area service to Kauai and Hawaii island beginning March 12.

The Seattle-based carrier said Tuesday it will offer daily, nonstop service from the California cities of Oakland and San Jose to Lihue and Kona. The airline previously served the markets with three flights a week between San Jose and Lihue and between Oakland and Kona, and four flights a week from San Jose to Kona and Oakland to Lihue.

"Going to seven flights a week from both San Jose and Oakland to Kauai and Kona — along with our existing daily service from both cities to Maui — makes it more convenient than ever for Bay Area travelers flying to the Hawaiian islands," said Joe Sprague, Alaska’s vice president of marketing.

AT&T adds cell sites on Big Island, Kauai

In an ongoing effort to boost AT&T wireless service in Hawaii, a new cell tower is being added on Kauai.

The new mobile broadband site in Kauai’s Barking Sands-Polihale area is in addition to two new sites on Hawaii island, AT&T announced Tuesday.

Last year’s tsunami warning clogged the local network, leaving some emergency management responders on Hawaii island and Maui County with AT&T cell phones without service.

The new towers were not constructed as a direct response to the tsunami warning, said Dan Youmans, state president for AT&T Hawaii. "Certainly they will provide additional calling capacity for those situations where there are emergencies," he said.

Hawaii County workers use AT&T as their cell-phone provider, said Quince Mento, administrator of the county’s Civil Defense Agency. He met with AT&T officials soon after the tsunami threat forced his crews to use land lines and walkie-talkies.

"They assured us they would do some changes on their end to increase capacity," he said. "They were frank and didn’t make any promises that it wouldn’t happen again."

AT&T has increased its calling capacity in Hawaii by 37 percent this year, Youmans said.

Barnes & Noble first-quarter loss narrows

NEW YORK » Barnes & Noble Inc. said Tuesday it narrowed its loss in its fiscal first quarter as sales of its Nook e-book reader and e-books helped offset lower physical book sales.

The company also sounded a positive note about the holidays, saying that traffic will benefit because its chief rival, Borders Group, will be shuttered by then. Barnes & Noble shares rose nearly 15 percent, or $1.70, to close at $13.13.

Barnes & Noble, which received a $204 million investment from former suitor Liberty Media earlier this month, said its Nook business, including Nooks themselves, e-books, and magazines and other digital content and accessories, rose 140 percent to $227 million during the quarter.

The largest U.S. traditional book retailer says its quarterly loss was $56.6 million, or 99 cents a share. That compares with a loss of $62.5 million, or $1.12 a share, last year. Revenue rose 2 percent to $1.42 billion from $1.4 billion.

Boeing commits to new engine for 737

Boeing said it will move ahead with a new engine for its 737, matching a competing Airbus plane and giving its best-selling jet the fuel efficiency that airlines crave.

Airlines have been struggling with sharply higher fuel costs, so every improvement in fuel efficiency helps their bottom lines.

"Our customers have told us that they want efficiency, and they want it soon, and they want it with certainty, and that’s what this airplane will do," said Jim Albaugh, the Boeing executive vice president who runs its commercial airplane division.

Boeing makes more 737s than any other plane, with more than 2,100 on order. It competes head-to-head with the Airbus A320, which will have a new, more fuel-efficient engine available starting in 2015. Boeing said its 737 with the new engine will be available in 2017.

Boeing said five airlines have committed to buy 496 of the planes. Airbus has booked more than 1,000 orders for its new-engine version of the A320.

Boeing is calling the 737 with the new engine the "MAX," as in "maximum." It says the plane will be as much as 12 percent more fuel-efficient than its current 737, and 4 percent more efficient per seat than the Airbus A320neo.

Spring buying boosts U.S. home prices

WASHINGTON » Spring buying pushed home prices up for a third straight month in most major U.S. cities in June. But the housing market remains shaky, and further price declines are expected this year.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home-price index showed Tuesday that prices increased in June from May in 19 of the 20 cities tracked. (Honolulu is not in the index.)

Prices rose 3.6 percent in the April-June quarter from the previous quarter. Neither of those numbers is adjusted for seasonal factors. Over the past 12 months, home prices have declined in all 20 cities.

Chicago, Minneapolis, Washington and Boston posted the biggest monthly increases. Metro areas hit hardest by the housing crisis, including Las Vegas and Phoenix, reported small seasonal increases.

Housing sales are on pace this year to be the worst in 14 years.

ON THE MOVE

Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties has announced two new members have joined the New Agent Training Office:

» Kenneth Keast was previously a consultant/owners representative.

» Joshua Martin was previously an account executive at MVNP.

RevoluSun has announced the following new hires: 

» Steve Haums­child as a Hawaii-based independent project developer.

» Enrique Zender as a Hawaii-based PV system designer.