Hawaiian Airlines passenger traffic up 4% in April

Hawaiian Airlines’ passenger traffic rose 4 percent in April from the year-earlier period as the company added more capacity.

The state’s largest carrier said Wednesday it transported 816,688 people last month compared with 785,254 in the year-earlier period.

Through the first four months of the year, Hawaiian’s passenger traffic is up 4.6 percent.

Hawaiian’s load factor, or the percentage of seats filled, edged up 1.1 percentage points in April to 77.5 percent from 76.4 percent. Revenue passenger miles, or one paying passenger transported one mile, rose 6.3 percent to 1.09 million from 1.02 million. Available seat miles, or one seat transported one mile, increased 4.8 percent to 1.40 million from 1.34 million.

Firms bypassing Asian workers for executive technology jobs

SAN FRANCISCO » Google, Yahoo and other major technology companies are far more inclined to hire Asians as computer programmers than to promote them to become managers or executives, according to a study released Wednesday.

The analysis uncovered a glaring imbalance between the number of Asian workers in nonmanagement jobs and the number in leadership positions in Silicon Valley.

Ascend, a group focused on Asian business issues, based its conclusions on 2013 data filed with U.S. employment regulators by five Silicon Valley companies — Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. Intel Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and LinkedIn Corp.

The report found that Asians held 27 percent of the professional jobs yet only 14 percent were executives. By comparison, whites held 62 percent of the professional jobs at the studied companies, but filled 80 percent of the executive jobs.

Stock prices are quite high, according to Fed chief Yellen

WASHINGTON » Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen on Wednesday described stock market valuations as high and said the central bank was carefully monitoring their impact on financial stability.

Coupled with weak economic reports in the morning, her remarks drove stocks broadly lower in Wednesday trading. Yellen added, however, that the overall risks to financial stability are "moderated, not elevated" and she does not see the hallmarks of any bubbles. She cited one reason stock prices were high: the meager returns on safer investments such as bonds because of low interest rates.

Ship Ahoy!

Today’s ship arrivals and departures:

On the Move

» Mauna Kea Beach Hotel has announced that Peter Pahk has returned as the hotel’s executive chef, leading the property’s culinary team. He held the position from 2012-2014 and was previously a culinary professor at Woosong University in Daejeon, South Korea.

» Island Air honored 15 new graduates of its Explorers Program during their graduation ceremony that took place on April 9 at the commuter terminal at Honolulu International Airport. The graduates are: Cade Beede, Kalaheo High School; Sierra Borges, Castle High School; Connor Chilson, Pearl City High School; Edward Clancey, Le Jardin Academy; Victoria Countryman, Kahuku High School; Ellen Dayuha, Farrington High School; Xavier Duarte, Kamehameha Schools; Justice Jaentsch, Kapolei High School; Mikeila McCarthy, Moanalua High School; Chase Nakamura, Iolani School; Carlo Queja, Waipahu High School; Frank Querido, Waipahu High School; Brandon Ramos, Maryknoll School; Kaitlin Woytus, Kaiser High School; and Jason Yuen, University of Hawaii/Hawaii Community College.