BUSINESS BRIEFS
HAL passenger load up 9.7%
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Hawaiian Airlines flew 486,634 passengers in January, up 9.7 percent from the same month a year earlier, the company announced yesterday.
Hawaiian also said it had 578 million revenue passenger miles in January, up 9.3 percent from a year earlier. Available seat miles totaled 660 million for the month, up 6.2 percent from the previous year. Planes flew 87.5 percent full, up from 85.1 percent a year earlier.
MEDICARE FOLKS GET NEW OPTION
UnitedHealthcare Insurance Co. has begun offering coverage to Medicare-eligible individuals in Hawai'i, including a Medicare prescription drug plan, state Insurance Commissioner J.P. Schmidt said.
The company will provide more competition and alternatives for the Medicare market, Schmidt said.
COLLEGE AID HELP OFFERED
Hawai'i high school students are being offered help and advice in applying for scholarships at two workshops.
Tomorrow, Big Island students can attend programs at Kealakehe High School's library and the University of Hawai'i-Hilo Campus Center dining hall. Starting at 1 p.m., they will be offered help completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid that's required by many colleges and universities.
Similar help will be offered on Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Windward Community College. People attending the event at Hale Akoakoa also will learn about financial aid for college students.
TRADE DEFICIT HITS RECORD HIGH
WASHINGTON — American appetites for all things foreign, from oil to cars to clothing, pushed the trade deficit to yet another record in 2005.
And the year's $201.6 billion deficit with China, the largest ever with a single country, brought demands for a crackdown on what the U.S. calls unfair trade practices.
The Commerce Department reported yesterday that the overall trade gap climbed to an all-time high of $725.8 billion last year.
PFIZER EARNINGS BELOW ESTIMATES
NEW YORK — Pfizer Inc. disappointed Wall Street yesterday with a 2006 earnings prediction that fell below analysts' forecasts while announcing revenue growth would be flat as it continues to struggle with patent losses.
Shares of the world's largest drug company fell 66 cents, or 2.5 percent, to close at $25.68 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
CABLE REVENUE UP, SHARE DOWN
KELLER, Texas — Cable-company revenues rose faster than inflation last year, but cable's share of the TV-viewing market declined as satellite services gained, the Federal Communications Commission said yesterday.
The FCC's annual report on competition among video providers found that cable's revenues rose about 10.8 percent over the year through June 2005. It also found that the number of cable households fell by nearly 1 million.
