BUSINESS BRIEFS
Hawaiian's passenger miles slip
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Hawaiian Airlines Inc., the state's largest air carrier, said it carried about 81,000 more passengers in August compared with the same month a year earlier as it added more interisland flights.
The carrier reported 725,272 passengers during the month. That compared with 644,278 a year earlier.
The average number of seats it filled on flights fell, however.
The Honolulu-based airline said the percentage of its seats occupied on flights dropped to 83.8 percent in August from 87.4 percent a year earlier.
It said the decline occurred because of the expanded interisland schedule and because it raised fares on its Mainland flights, resulting in a lower load factor.
As a result, the number of revenue passenger miles — a metric that captures how many miles paying passengers were flown — fell by 4.2 percent to 684.7 million miles.
Hawaiian added capacity after Aloha Airlines folded last spring.
STATE GAS PRICES CONTINUE DECLINE
Hawai'i gas prices continued to drop this week, with the average price per gallon dipping by 4 cents to $4.35 a gallon yesterday, according to AAA Hawaii.
This is the sixth straight week that the statewide average has declined, AAA Hawaii said.
Around the state, the average price per gallon was $4.25 in Honolulu, down 3 cents from a week earlier, and $4.66 in Wailuku, a drop of 1 cent. Hilo saw the biggest decline, to $4.41, 10 cents less than a week ago.
Nationally, the average price for a gallon of regular was $3.67. Hawai'i's average gas price is the second highest in the nation behind Alaska at $4.41 a gallon, according to AAA.
APPLY FOR SMALL BUSINESS AWARDS
The U.S. Small Business Administration is accepting nominations for its 2009 SBA Small Business Awards.
Nominations will be awarded in the following categories: Small Business Person of the Year, Family Owned Small Business, Small Business Exporter, Entrepreneurial Success, Minority Small Business Champion, Women in Business Champion, Veteran Small Business Champion, Small Business Journalist, Financial Services Champion and Home Based Business Champion.
The deadline to submit an application is Nov. 14.
For information, call Jane Sawyer at 541-2990, ext. 205, or e-mail her at jane.sawyer@sba.gov. Nomination forms also are available through the Hawai'i Women's Business Center's Web site at www.hwbc.org.
CALAVO GROWERS' 3Q EARNINGS FALL
California-based Calavo Growers Inc., which owns two Big Island fruit-processing businesses, said yesterday its earnings fell during its latest fiscal quarter due largely to higher prices it paid for Mexican-grown avocados.
For the three months ending July 31, Calavo posted net income of $1.4 million, or 10 cents a share, down from $2.2 million, or 15 cents a share, during the same quarter a year earlier.
Revenues rose to $96.9 million in the latest quarter, up 6.1 percent from $91.3 million a year earlier.
"A significant factor in Calavo's fiscal third quarter performance, and a principal differentiator in year-over-year operating results, was a short supply of Mexican-grown avocados that resulted in sharply higher cost for fruit sourced from that region," said Lee Cole, Calavo's president and chief executive officer.
Calavo in May bought the papaya and tropical food processing businesses Hawaiian Sweet Inc. and Hawaii Pride LLC.
