BUSINESS BRIEFS
State to aid Sea Life Park's laid-off
Advertiser Staff
The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations will activate its "Rapid Response Team" Aug. 5 to assist employees who are being laid off at Sea Life Park.
The session will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the labor department, located in the Princess Ruth Ke'elikolani Building, 830 Punchbowl St. The session is open to the 44 Sea Life Park workers who will be losing their jobs, as well as others who believe they may benefit from the session.
For information, call 586-8844, or visit www.hawaii.gov/labor/rapidresponse.
FIRST INSURANCE LOWERS AUTO RATE
First Insurance Company of Hawaii said it has lowered its rates for personal auto insurance by an average of 8 percent.
On its First Select Portfolio, a package policy that combines homeowners, personal auto, and personal umbrella insurance, rates were lowered by an average of 8.2 percent, the company said in a news release.
"We were able to lower our rates because our auto insurance and First Select Portfolio lines were performing well," said Tony Abad, vice president at First Insurance.
First Insurance had assets totaling more than $590 million and liabilities of $394 million at the end of 2007.
MAUI HOME SALES FALL FROM YEAR AGO
The number of residential sales transactions for the first six months on Maui fell by almost 26 percent for single-family homes and 17.8 percent for condominiums, according to a report from Prudential Locations Maui.
The company said the number of single-family sales was 477 in January to June. That compared to 644 a year earlier.
It said condominium transactions slipped to 507 from 617 in last year's first six months.
The report said the average sales price for a Maui single-family home was $599,000, or 8.9 percent lower.
The average condominium sales price rose to $575,000, or $50,000 more than the same period a year earlier.
WESTJET TO BOOST HAWAI'I FLIGHTS
WestJet is expanding its winter schedule to include a dozen weekly flights between Vancouver and Honolulu as of Nov. 17.
The schedule will also boast 11 weekly flights between Vancouver and Maui as of that date.
As of November, Calgary, Alberta-based WestJet will fly to 51 destinations in Canada, the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean.
OBON-SEASON FLIGHT BOOKINGS DOWN
Japan Airlines Corp. and All Nippon Airways Co. said international flight bookings for the upcoming obon holiday period are lower than those last year, according to Bloomberg News.
Japan Airlines' overseas bookings were off 9.5 percent to 388,020 in the Aug. 8 to 17 period, while All Nippon said its bookings are off 1.5 percent to 140,724 passengers.
HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC REPORT TODAY
Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. is scheduled to report its second-quarter earnings today after the regular stock trading closes in New York.
It will have a conference call for analysts and investors tomorrow at 8 a.m. Hawai'i time that can be accessed through the company's Web site at www.hei.com. A replay of the teleconference will be available about two hours after the call ends.
