Hawaiian Air, attendants OK tentative pact
Hawaiian Airlines and its flight attendants union have reached a tentative agreement on contract terms covering the operation of long-range, single-aisle aircraft that the company plans to acquire to complement its current fleet of wide-body aircraft serving Hawaii from the West Coast.
Details of the pact are being sent to more than 1,400 of the company’s flight attendants with voting slated for Feb. 8-27.
Hawaiian reached a deal with Airbus on Jan. 7 to acquire 16 new 190-seat A321neo aircraft between 2017 and 2020, with rights to purchase an additional nine aircraft.
Hawaiian’s 600 pilots ratified a similar accord Jan. 28.
PetSmart prepares to open in Mililani
The first PetSmart store in Hawaii will open to the public at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 9 at the Town Center of Mililani.
The store is one of more than 1,260 in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.
The 15,000-square-foot Hawaii location will carry tens of thousands of pet products.
The grand-opening event will include a traditional blessing, prize giveaways and “I Heart PetSmart Speed Dating,” in which attendees will have the opportunity to match up with dogs available for adoption from the Hawaiian Humane Society.
The store, at 95-660 Lanikuhana Ave., will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays. Call 489-9231.
Detroit and Toyota see big U.S. sales gains
DETROIT >> American consumers ignored tax increases and trudged through winter weather to buy new cars and trucks at an unusually strong pace last month. It was the auto industry’s best January since 2008.
U.S. auto sales rose 14 percent to more than 1 million. Toyota’s 27 percent gain was the biggest among the major car companies. Ford’s sales jumped 22 percent, while GM and Chrysler each reported 16 percent gains compared with a year earlier. Sales ran at an annual pace of 15.3 million in January. If that holds for the rest of the year, automakers will sell nearly 1 million more vehicles than in 2012, when sales rose 13 percent.
Analysts predict full-year sales of 15 million to 15.5 million this year.
On the Move
Central Pacific Bank has promoted Vey Okutsu to Hawaii Kai branch manager. She has 30 years of banking experience and has been with CPB since 2002 serving as a personal banking officer, business banking officer and branch manager. Prior to working at Central Pacific Bank, Okutsu was a branch manager at Bank of Hawaii.
Shimokawa + Nakamura has promoted Peter Uchiyama to associate from project manager. He is presently the project architect for the University of Hawaii Life Sciences Master Plan and Halawa-Luluku Interpretive Development, a project that was administered by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Uchiyama previously worked for Kamehameha Schools.