BUSINESS BRIEFS
New airline adds service to Hilo
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Hawai'i's new interisland airline, go!, yesterday launched nonstop service between Honolulu and Hilo.
Go!, a division of Mesa Air Group Inc., added five roundtrip flights a day between the two cities, with a sixth flight to be added July 14. With the additions, go! now offers 62 daily flights with service between Honolulu and Lihu'e, Kahului, Kona, and Hilo.
OCEANIT WINS BIG MILITARY CONTRACT
Honolulu-based Oceanit Laboratories Inc. won a five-year $25.9 million contract to develop target tracking technology for U.S. missile defense systems, the government announced yesterday.
Oceanit workers on Kaua'i will provide advanced sensor and surveillance technologies under the deal with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency that expires June 2011.
WIRELESS PARTS MAKER RELOCATES
Wireless communications equipment maker Loea Corp. yesterday announced that it relocated its headquarters from San Jose, Calif., to Hono-lulu. The move creates 12 new jobs immediately and plans include adding 12 more workers within two years, said retired Adm. Thomas Fargo, Loea's chief executive. Fargo said the company plans to assemble products on O'ahu or Maui.
A&B BUYS TEXAS OFFICE COMPLEX
Alexander & Baldwin Inc. has bought a Texas office complex for $25 million to complete several tax-exempt property transactions.
The Honolulu-based firm last month sold two shopping centers near Phoenix for $35.6 million, and bought an office building in Sacramento for $12.4 million. In March, A&B also sold the Maui leasehold office building One Main Plaza for an undisclosed price.
The Texas property comprises about 200,000 square feet of space in a pair of two-story buildings in Plano, Texas, a suburb north of Dallas.
STATE DISABILITY PROGRAM FUNDED
The U.S. Department of Labor awarded $770,000 to Hawai'i for Disability Program Navigators, a program that provides counseling to job seekers with disabilities.
The goal of the program is to increase employment and self-sufficiency for individuals with disabilities.
GM ASKED TO JOIN RENAULT, NISSAN
DETROIT — In a move that could reshape General Motors Corp., the automaker's largest single shareholder has urged the company to consider joining the alliance between France's Renault S.A. and Japan's Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.
Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian wrote in a letter to GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner that Renault and Nissan are receptive to aligning with GM, and purchasing a "significant minority interest."
