Delta adds Nagoya-Honolulu route

Delta Air Lines has expanded its Japan-Hawaii service by adding a daily nonstop flight from Nagoya to Honolulu.

The flight on a 216-seat Boeing 767-300ER departs Nagoya at 7:50 p.m. and arrives in Honolulu at 8:05 a.m. the same day.

The return leg from Honolulu leaves at 10:40 a.m. and arrives in Nagoya at 4:20 p.m. the next day. Delta also flies between Tokyo and Honolulu.

"Delta’s new service provides more travel opportunities to our customers in the Chubu region," said Jeff Bernier, managing director of Pacific sales and affairs for Delta.

Japan Airlines already offers Nagoya-Honolulu service and will compete with Delta on that route.

American Air seeks Haneda delay

American Airlines asked U.S. regulators for permission to delay the start of flights between New York’s Kennedy Airport and Tokyo’s Haneda Airport by about a month to prevent the service from beginning during a seasonal travel lull.

Waiting until March 1 instead of Jan. 31 as stipulated by the initial award of the route, would let American avoid "startup in the depths of the off-peak season," the Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier said in a filing with the U.S. Department of Transportation.

February is the slowest travel month between Tokyo and the continental U.S., with 25 percent fewer bookings than in March, AMR Corp.’s American said in the filing, which followed a Dec. 13 announcement that service would start on Jan. 20.

An extension would allow American to "benefit from this important seasonal upswing in Tokyo traffic," according to the filing.

Delta Air Lines previously sought a similar extension on its Haneda flights from Detroit and Los Angeles, and now plans to operate that route starting on Feb. 19 instead of in January.

Hawaiian Airlines began Honolulu-Haneda flights last month.

Loan modification dropouts increase

WASHINGTON » More troubled homeowners are dropping out of the Obama administration’s main foreclosure-relief program, which has been widely criticized for failing to help more people keep their homes.

The Treasury department said yesterday that about 774,000 homeowners have dropped out as of last month. That’s about 54 percent of the more than 1.4 million people who applied.

And it’s up from October, when approximately 756,000 had fallen out.

The program is intended to help those at risk of foreclosure by lowering their monthly payments. Borrowers start with lower payments on a trial basis. The program has struggled to convert them into permanent loan modifications.

6 banks repay bailouts worth $2.66B

WASHINGTON » Six banks have repaid government bailouts worth a combined $2.66 billion, the Treasury department said yesterday.

The banks are returning taxpayer money that they received in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

Huntington Bancshares, First Horizon National Corp., Wintrust Financial Corp., Susquehanna Bancshares Inc., Heritage Financial Corp. and The Bank of Kentucky Financial Corp. all paid back the money they owed.