Hawaiian Airlines’ passenger traffic rose 4.8 percent in June as the carrier flew more routes than in the year-earlier period.

The number of people flown was just over 1 million compared with 969,607 in June 2016. The load factor, or the percentage of seats filled, edged up 1.5 percentage points to 87.6 percent from 86.1 percent.

Revenue passenger miles, or one paying passenger flown one mile, increased 4.4 percent to 1.43 million from 1.37 million. Available seat miles, or one seat flown one mile, rose 2.6 percent to 1.64 million from 1.60 million.

Technology agency gets new name

The High Technology Development Corp., a state agency that assists tech companies, is changing its name to the Hawaii Technology Development Corp.

The state said Tuesday that Gov. David Ige made the agency’s name change official when signing Senate Bill 902, enacted as Act 69.

Robbie Melton, executive director and CEO of HTDC, said the change better reflects the agency’s mission: “supporting the tech sector, building infrastructure and helping Hawaii companies create 80,000 new tech jobs right here in our islands.”

In addition to its name change, HTDC launched a redesigned website at htdc.org.

State signs energy efficiency deals

The state has entered into $504.3 million in energy performance contracts over the last 20 years.

The state said Tuesday the combined projects will save Hawaii an estimated $1.2 billion in electricity costs over the life of the contracts.

Performance contracts signed by state and local government agencies in Hawaii since 1996 include 295 buildings and facilities covering more than 112 million square feet. The state said the savings are the equivalent of powering 388,210 homes for one year.

The contracts involve energy and water efficiency projects at government buildings and on highways. The contracts were set up so the agencies could receive the upgrades without having to pay expenses upfront.

Energy service companies install the energy improvements and guarantee the energy savings over the contract term. The contractor is paid out of the energy savings.

ON THE MOVE

Sheraton Waikiki has announced that Ron Richter is the hotel’s new director of food and beverage. He first started his career as an assistant banquet manager and banquet manager for The Westin Bayshore in British Columbia. He then moved to Fairmont Banff Spring in Alberta, where he became a director of banquets as well as an assistant director of food and beverage. While he served as a director of food and beverage in 2014 at The Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto, Richter also worked with chef Corbin Tomaszesi of Food Network Canada.

Bikeshare Hawaii has hired Kelsey Colpitts as marketing and communications manager. Her experience includes being marketing and public relations coordinator for West Maui Greenway Alliance and marketing specialist for Center for EcoTechnology in Northampton, Mass.

Alexander & Baldwin has announced that John Perkins is its new vice president of information technology. He was previously vice president of engineering for Magnetic, a marketing technology company in New York, and a senior vice president for International Fund Services, a State Street company. Perkins also founded Vaiance LLC, a technology and management consulting company.