Allegiant adds Monterey to service list
Low-cost carrier Allegiant Air said Tuesday it will begin once-a-week, nonstop service from Monterey, Calif., to Honolulu on Nov. 16.
"We are pleased to see Allegiant continue to expand and offer more routes servicing the West Coast, our largest visitor market," said Mike McCartney, president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority. "The new Monterey-to-Honolulu route will be the first direct flight connecting the two cities and is estimated to provide up to $12 million in visitor expenditures and $1.4 million in tax revenue annually."
The Las Vegas-based airline, which primarily connects secondary and leisure markets, said last month it will begin flights from Las Vegas to Honolulu three days a week beginning June 29 and from Fresno, Calif., to Honolulu once a week on June 30.
Monterey joins several other cities that Allegiant will be flying from starting in November. They are Bellingham, Wash., two days a week to both Honolulu (starting Nov. 14) and Kahului (Nov. 15), and one day a week from Eugene, Ore. (Nov. 17); Santa Maria, Calif. (Nov. 17); and Stockton, Calif. (Nov. 18), to Honolulu.
China and Japan to trade currency directly
SHANGHAI » China and Japan have agreed to start direct trading of their currencies from Friday as Beijing moves toward making the yuan more of a global currency.
Until now China has only allowed direct trading between the yuan and the U.S. dollar under tight limits that have been loosened only gradually.
The People’s Bank of China said Tuesday that it had authorized the move to help improve the foreign exchange market, promote Sino-Japanese cooperation and develop China’s capital markets.
China has long pledged to loosen tight controls on its currency. The move to allow direct trading of the yen and the yuan is a step in that direction which will also streamline foreign exchange dealings between China and Japan, the world’s second- and third-biggest economies.
The China Foreign Exchange Trade System said in a notice that the exchange rate for yuan and yen would be based on a weighted average of prices given by market makers, excluding the highest and lowest offers. A similar arrangement applies to the yuan-dollar exchange rate.
The yuan-yen exchange rate listed by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Tuesday was 7.948 yuan to 100 Japanese yen, or 12.58 yen per 1 yuan.
Europeans found ambivalent about euro
LONDON » The debt crisis that has ravaged Europe for the best part of three years has exposed a dislike of the single currency but little desire to abandon it, a wide-ranging survey of public opinion found Tuesday.
Pew Research Center’s survey across eight European Union countries, including five members of the 17-country eurozone, indicated that the region’s financial problems have triggered full-blown fears about the future of Europe as a political project.
In Greece, the epicenter of the debt crisis, 71 percent of those polled want to keep the euro, compared with 23 percent who want to return to the drachma. Most people surveyed in Greece, which is now in its fifth year of a savage recession, think the euro has been good for them — 46 percent, compared with 26 percent who thought the euro was a bad thing.
BlackBerry maker anticipates big layoffs
TORONTO » Struggling BlackBerry maker Research in Motion says it has hired J.P. Morgan and RBC Capital Markets to advise it and says there will be significant layoffs this year.
RIM said in a release Tuesday that the advisers will evaluate various strategies, including opportunities to partner and license.
RIM made no mention of a sale of the company, but new Chief Executive Thorsten Heins did not rule out the idea after RIM’s last earnings were released in late March. RIM also says it expects to report an operating loss for the first quarter.
Dairies pamper cows to improve output
CHILTON, Wis. » Lucky, a 7-year-old dairy cow, had been walking with a limp for several weeks when veterinarian Sara Gilbertson was called. Instead of prescribing painkillers, Gilbertson tried an unusual new therapy: a chiropractic adjustment that included a full-length spinal massage.
Cow comfort has become a key concern for the nation’s farmers, who have known for generations that contented cows give more milk. The traditional techniques for keeping cows happy aren’t complicated — feed them well, keep the temperature comfortable and give them room to move around. But some dairy farmers are turning to a new array of creative options intended to keep cows as mellow — and productive — as possible.
ON THE MOVE
YWCA of Oahu has named Noriko Namiki its chief information officer. She has spent most of her career as an international television journalist, including time as a news producer in Tokyo with CNN and ABC.
RevoluSun has hired the following as independent project developers:
» Eric Leano has 16 years of sales experience, including work as a therapeutic sales representative at Pfizer and a sales representative for Hilti.
» Chelsea Pavone has nine years of sales experience in the service, tourism, insurance and furniture industries.
Hospice Hawaii’s third annual fundraising event, Hot Pursuit, raised $60,000. The funds will help Hospice Hawaii continue to provide quality end of life care and community support services, including hospice care for patients and their families in the setting of their choice.
