BUSINESS BRIEFS
Mokulele Air to fly to Honolulu
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Interisland carrier Mokulele Airlines said it plans to begin a Kona-to-Honolulu service in March.
The Big Island company, which flies twin-engine Piper Chieftain aircraft, said it will charge a one-way fare of $59.95 between Kona and Honolulu for its frequent flier club members. That does not include taxes and fees.
Mokulele flies to Kona, Hilo and Maui, Moloka'i and Lana'i, as well as circle island tours of the Big Island.
GASOLINE LIKELY TO EDGE UP 3¢
The wholesale price of regular gasoline in Honolulu could rise about 3 cents to $1.81 a gallon on Monday, according to Advertiser calculations.
The state caps the price that wholesalers can charge for gasoline, but retail prices remain unregulated. The cap prices are set once a week.
IRS SAYS 10,700 REFUNDS AWAIT
Unclaimed refunds totaling more than $13 million are awaiting 10,700 Hawai'i residents who failed to file a federal tax return in 2002, the Internal Revenue Service said yesterday.
Residents who are owed a refund must file their 2002 return no later than April 17. The IRS estimates that half of those refunds are more than $611.
In some cases, individuals had taxes withheld from their wages or made the payments out of self-employed earnings, but had too little income to require filing a tax return. Some also may be eligible for the refundable earned income tax credit.
FED MAY TAKE SHORT-TERM VIEW
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve policy-makers last month indicated that interest-rate decisions could become less predictable, relying more heavily on short-term economic prospects than on more sweeping monetary strategy.
Minutes of the Fed's Jan. 31 meeting — chairman Alan Greenspan's last — were released yesterday and offered insight into policy-makers' thinking on an end point for the Fed's nearly two-year-old credit tightening campaign.
