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Business / In Brief • May 14, 2013

Pacific Wings to stop flying in stateHONOLULU - Pacific Wings, an airline serving five Hawaii destinations with a Cessna 208, is ceasing operations.Hawaii News Now reported Monday that Pacific Wings will be shutting down its Hawaii operation in mid-June.Pacific Wings has been in operation since the 1970s and serves mainly smaller markets like Molokai, Kalaupapa, Lanai, Hana and Waimea-Kamuela.*****Medicaid Quest sign-up postponedHONOLULU - Hawaii is postponing open enrollment for roughly 250,000 members of the state's Medicaid health insurance program, Quest, amid a contract dispute ...

Business / In Brief • May 11, 2013

Web sales begin for Oahu-Sendai flightsHONOLULU - Hawaiian Airlines has started selling tickets online for upcoming new service to Sendai, Japan.The service three times a week will begin June 25. The flights will fly direct from Honolulu to Sendai and stop in Sapporo from Sendai on the way back to Honolulu.Sendai will be Hawaiian's fifth destination in Japan.It's the first link between Sendai and Hawaii since another airline stopped its service in 2004.In the United States, tickets can be purchased at www.hawaiianairlines.com. In Japan, they can be purchased through Hawaiian's ...

Business / In Brief • May 10, 2013

$1.1M for Hawaii health centersHONOLULU - Hawaii's community health centers can receive about $1.1 million from the federal government to help uninsured residents enroll in health insurance coverage under the Affordable Health Care Act.U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Thursday that funds are being made available to help 14 health centers in Hawaii enroll uninsured individuals in the national health care insurance program.The secretary said community health centers in the state provide care to 144,427 people and are well-positioned to support enrollment ...

Business / In Brief • May 9, 2013

Decline in earnings for Hawaiian ElectricHONOLULU - Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. said Wednesday that its first-quarter net income dropped 12.1 percent to $33.7 million as its utilities invested more than $60 million in local infrastructure.The Honolulu-based company said its earnings of 34 cents per share, compared with earnings of 40 cents per share, or $38.3 million, during the first three months of 2012.The company said its earnings dropped in part because of about $8 million higher expenses for operations, depreciation and investments in reliability and clean energy.Hawaiian ...

Business / In Brief • May 8, 2013

Wages on Oahu above averageHONOLULU - Oahu workers earned an average hourly wage of $22.24 in May 2012.The U.S. Department of Labor said Tuesday that's 1 percent above the nationwide average of $22.01.Of 22 major occupational groups, Oahu construction and extraction workers earned an average hourly wage of $30.27. That rate is 40 percent more than the national average of $21.61.The highest paid workers were in the legal field, earning an average of $43.11 per hour. That's 9 percent lower than the $47.39 per hour national average for legal workers.The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports Oahu ...

Business / In Brief • May 7, 2013

Phone book recycling urgedHONOLULU - Hawaiian Telcom Yellow Pages is encouraging people to recycle old telephone books as part of a "Think Yellow, Go Green" campaign this month.Schools on the Big Island, Kauai, Lanai, Maui and Molokai will compete to collect the most outdated telephone directories.The schools may win cash prizes for their participation in the program. Award amounts will vary depending on the school's location.The directories will be shipped to Oahu for recycling after the contest closes.The same campaign recycled nearly 30,000 pounds of telephone directories last ...