Island Air cancels flights amid storm threat

Island Air said Wednesday it will cancel flights servicing Maui and Lanai beginning Thursday afternoon and will suspend all flights on Friday because of hurricanes Iselle and Julio. All flights servicing Kauai on Thursday will continue to operate until its last flight departing at 7:34 p.m. The local carrier is hoping to resume its normal flight schedule on Saturday.

The following are the final four Maui and Lanai flights on Thursday:

Honolulu-Maui: Flight 410 departing Honolulu, 11:50 a.m.

Maui-Honolulu: Flight 411 departing Maui, 1:02 p.m.

HonoluluLanai: Flight 304 departing Honolulu, 9:50 a.m.

Lanai-Honolulu: Flight 303 departing Lanai, 10:50 a.m.

Guests who are ticketed for travel on Island Air from Thursday through Tuesday will be permitted to change their flight without charge by contacting reservations at 800-652-6541, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Changes must be made prior to the departure of originally scheduled flights. The reservation call center hours of operation have been extended on Thursday and Friday from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Meanwhile, Hawaiian Airlines said flights are running on schedule and it will decide Thursday afternoon whether to cancel or delay flights.

Hawaiian said customers who are ticketed for travel on Thursday and Friday will be permitted to change their reservations without charge to flights through Tuesday. The change must be made prior to the departure of the originally scheduled flight, and changes must be in the same class of service (i.e., coach to coach or first to first).

Changes must be made by Hawaiian Airlines personnel. Customers needing assistance should call Hawaiian Airlines at 800-367-5320.

First Hawaiian, CPB to close Big Isle branches

All eight First Hawaiian Bank branches on Hawaii island — Hilo, Honokaa, Kamehameha, Kamuela, Kealakekua, Kona, Pahoa and Waikoloa — will close at 11 a.m. Thursday due to the approaching storm. Branches are expected to open for business as usual on Friday once it has been deemed safe and any potential damage has been assessed.

Both of Central Pacific Bank’s branches on Hawaii island — Hilo and Kona — will close at noon Thursday. The status of operating hours for Friday will be announced after further assessment of the situation.

Hawaiian Air passenger traffic up 2.3%

Hawaiian Airlines’ passenger traffic edged up 2.3 percent in July from the year-earlier quarter as it filled a slightly higher percentage of its seats.

The state’s largest carrier said Wednesday it transported 957,876 passengers compared with 936,297 in the year-earlier period. Its load factor, or percentage of seats filled, edged up 0.6 percentage points to 84.6 percent from 84 percent.

Revenue passenger miles, or one paying passenger transported 1 mile, increased 1.8 percent to 1.31 million from 1.29 million while available seat miles, or one seat transported one mile, rose 1.1 percent to 1.55 million from 1.53 million.

T.J. Maxx opening store at Maui Mall

T.J. Maxx is breaking ground at Maui Mall on Aug. 14.

The discount retailer will open a store at the mall at 70 E. Kaahumanu Ave. in Kahului as part of the first phase of Maui Mall’s revitalization.

T.J. Maxx has outlets in Kakaako, Aiea and Pearl City.

City Mill sister store moving to Ewa Beach

The flagship location of Simply Organized, a sister store to City Mill, will close its Crossroads at Kapolei Shopping Center store at 7 p.m. Aug. 22 to move to a new spot in Ewa Beach.

The new store at Laulani Village Shopping Center will open in the second half of October between City Mill and Petco, and will be managed by current Kapolei store manager Debra Aliviado.

The move will take Simply Organized from its current 12,000-square-foot space into a smaller 7,000-square-foot space.

"We decided, with the Kahala store, that (Simply Organized) doesn’t really need all that space," said Vice President Carol Ai May.

"Ewa Beach is more populated and still close to Kapolei, and we’re looking forward to more cross-shopping in the Laulani Village shopping center."

The Crossroads at Kapolei Shopping Center, completed in 2008, was jointly developed and is owned by the parent companies of City Mill and Simply Organized, and the Chun Wah Kam Noodle Factory Inc.

ON THE MOVE

Accuity has promoted:

» Donn Nakamura to principal from senior manager. He joined the company in 1998. Nakamura has 16 years in the accounting industry.

» Todd Matsushita to principal from senior manager. He joined the company in 1999. Matsushita has 15 years in the accounting industry.

Graham Builders, Hawaii’s premier design and build company, has announced Christy Ammerman as their architectural designer. She has more than six years of architectural design experience and was previously serving as an advertising and marketing director at Holy City Hospitality in Charleston, S.C., as well as having worked in residential architecture in Kiawah Island, S.C., and Washington, D.C.