Hawaiian Airlines’ passenger traffic jumped 5.6 percent in October as the company’s aircraft carried more seats systemwide.

The state’s largest carrier said Thursday it transported 908,346 people compared with 860,260 in the year-earlier period. Hawaiian’s load factor, or the percentage of seats filled, rose 0.4 percentage points to 85.1 percent from 84.7 percent.

Revenue passenger miles, or one paying passenger transported one mile, increased 5.6 percent to 1.25 million from 1.18 million. Available seat miles, or one seat transported one mile, gained 5.1 percent to 1.47 million from 1.40 million.

Matson to repurchase up to 3M shares

Hawaii ocean cargo transportation firm Matson Inc. intends to buy back some of its stock under a plan announced Wednesday to return capital to shareholders.

The company said its board of directors authorized repurchasing up to 3 million shares of common stock over the next three years. That amount of stock represents about 7 percent of shares in the company.

Matson, which could suspend or discontinue the plan at any time, said it may repurchase stock based on ongoing needs for capital, the stock’s price and general market conditions.

“The share repurchase program reflects our commitment to enhancing long-term shareholder value and reaffirms our confidence in the cash flow generation of Matson’s core businesses,” Matt Cox, company president and CEO, said in a statement. “Our financial strength provides ample capacity to fund our fleet renewal program, pay down debt and consider growth investments, while continuing to return capital to shareholders.”

Matson’s stock closed Thursday at $50.52 to mark a 52-week high. The share repurchase program was announced after the shares closed at $46.40 Wednesday.

Hawaii-Korea forum set for Nov. 20

The fifth annual Hawaii-Korea International Forum is coming to Oahu this month.

The event will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 20 at the Waikiki Resort Hotel. The forum will be held in advance of the Jin Air inaugural flight on Dec. 19, which will kick off service between Incheon and Honolulu. Low-cost carrier Jin Air is a subsidiary of Korean Air.

The gathering is hosted by Travel Press-Korea and sponsored by the Hawaii Tourism Authority, Korean Air and HKTA.

For more information, contact Jae Pil “J.P.” Sho, forum organizer and publisher and chairman of Travel Press-Korea. Sho can be reached at jpsho@travelpress.co.kr.

On The Move

» RevoluSun has named Chad Okuhara as operations manager for RevoluSun Smart Home. His responsibility is to lead the operations team to accelerate remodeling and construction projects that are related to RevoluSun Smart Home’s growing suite of curated home improvement products, which focuses on sustainable technology. Prior to RevoluSun, Okuhara was a project manager at Graham Builders as well as an accounting manager at MW Groups and a senior accountant at Wachi & Watanabe CPA.

Ship Ahoy!

Today’s ship arrivals and departures: