Hawaiian passenger traffic up 6.3% in April

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Hawaiian Airlines’ passenger traffic rose 6.3 percent in April as the carrier added more flights.

The state’s largest airline said Monday it transported 961,431 passengers compared with 904,048 in the year-earlier period. The load factor, or the percentage of seats filled, dipped 0.1 percentage point to 85.2 percent from 85.3 percent.

Available seat miles, or one seat transported one mile, jumped 7.3 percent to 1.63 million from 1.52 million. Revenue passenger miles, or one paying passenger transported one mile, increased 7.1 percent to 1.39 million from 1.3 million.

U.S. oil prices top $70 a barrel

DALLAS >> U.S. oil prices crashed through the $70-a-barrel mark on Monday for the first time since late 2014, foreshadowing costlier gasoline and consumer goods. It’s not clear that pricey crude will slow down the economy, however.

The stock market closed slightly higher as investors bet that companies and consumers can cope with the increase

Benchmark U.S. crude rose $1.01 to settle at $70.73 a barrel on the futures market in New York.

U.S. consumer borrowing up $11.6B in March

WASHINGTON >> Americans increased their borrowing by $11.6 billion in March as a big increase in the category that covers auto and student loans offset the largest monthly drop in credit card borrowing in more than five years.

The Federal Reserve says the March increase in total debt was below the $13.6 billion increase in February and was the smallest monthly gain since September. Borrowing for student and auto loans rose a solid $14.2 billion, the third straight month of $14 billion-plus gains. However, borrowing in the category that covers credit cards fell for a second straight month, dropping $2.6 billion.

ON THE MOVE

Aqua-Aston Hospitality has appointed Chris Port as the new chief development officer. He was previously a development leader for Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. Prior to that, Port launched Caesars Global Living with the senior leadership team at Caesars Entertainment and served nine years as a senior executive at Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide/Starwood Vacation Ownership.

The company aio has named Patricia “Patti” Freedman president of Obun Hawaii and Hawaii Distribution Center effective May 1. She succeeds Mervyn “Merv” Yoshimoto, who will retire in June. Freedman is currently principal of Holoholo Consulting, with more than 30 years in Hawaii’s broadcast media industry.