Hawaiian Launches Nonstop Daily New York To Honolulu

Hawaiian Airlines will operate the its newest and largest aircraft, the Airbus A330-200, seating 294 passengers, on its new Honolulu to New York daily nonstop service.

By Sonia Isotov
Article From:Mauinow.com

Hawaiian Airlines announced today that it will launch a daily nonstop service between New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Honolulu starting June 4, 2012, and is promoting the new service with introductory fares.

Starting June 5, 2012, Hawaiian Flight 51 will depart JFK daily at 10:00 a.m. and arrive at Honolulu International Airport at 3:00 p.m.

The new route will be inaugurated from Honolulu the day before on June 4, with the departure of Flight 50, familiarly known as “Hawaiian 5-0″. Flight 50 will depart Honolulu daily at 3:05 p.m. and arrive in New York City at 6:55 a.m. the following morning.

Hawaiian’s new flights from New York will add more than 107,000 new air seats annually to Hawaii’s tourism industry from the Eastern US, the state’s second-largest geographic source market for visitors.

“New York is an important part of our growth strategy. Hawaiian is the leading airline in Hawaii’s largest tourism market, the US West Coast, and we are expanding in Hawaii’s third largest market, Asia. Adding service to the largest market in the Eastern US, Hawaii’s second largest tourism market, was a logical step,” said Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian’s president and chief executive officer, in a written statement.

“Hawaiian’s new service will generate an estimated $156 million in direct visitor spending and $17 million in state tax revenue annually for our tourism economy and will provide much desired direct air service to New York City making it more convenient and accessible for travelers from the East Coast. This flight is of strategic importance to promoting the Hawaiian Islands brand to our second largest market, and we look forward to welcoming our guests,” added McCartney.

Hawaiian will operate its New York-Honolulu route using its growing fleet of new Airbus A330-200 aircraft that seat 294 passengers, with 18 seats in First Class and the remainder in Economy Class.

In celebration of its new service, Hawaiian is offering special introductory fares of $212 each way in Economy Class and $808 each way in First Class (212 and 808 being the area codes of New York City and Honolulu, respectively). The introductory fares are available for purchase from today through November 20, 2011 and are valid for travel between June 4 and June 30, 2012.

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Hawaii Holiday Travel Poll: Lower Travel, More Spending

By Sonia Isotov
Article from: MauiNow.com

Local consumers will spend more on holiday trips this season, but slightly less likely than last year to take at least one overnight trip for the holidays in November/December, according to AAA Hawaii’s 3rd Annual Winter Holiday Travel Poll.

39% of polled local residents said they plan on one or more holiday trips, compared to 42% last year, while 50% definitely won’t take a trip (48% last year) and 11% are undecided (10% in 2010).

The 50% not taking a holiday trip cited several reasons, including:

■Too many other expenses (43%)
■Rising prices for travel (38%)
■Rising household expenses for items other than gas (30%)
■High gas prices (29%)
Of those who will be traveling in November and December, 77% plan to spend more than $1,000 on their getaways, compared to 69% last year who said they would spend more than $1,000.

64% of surveyed holiday travelers will take one trip in November or December, 29% will take two, and 7% will take three or more. Last year, 65% said they would take one trip, 30% were taking two, and 5% were taking three or more.

Many more Hawaii residents plan to visit family over this holiday season compared to last year (56% compared to 44% in 2010), while fewer local travelers will be shopping (46% vs. 58% last year) or sightseeing (40% vs. 49% last year).

“We are definitely seeing some price sensitivity on the part of travelers because of the economy and high gas prices, but we also see that travel is viewed as a high priority and people will continue to fit trips into their budgets however they can,” said Diane Peterson, AAA Hawaii regional manager, in a written statement. “Fortunately, travel providers are recognizing this also and are offering many family budget-friendly deals and significant discounts for early bookings.”

Of those polled who indicated they would travel this holiday season, 36% will take at least one trip within Hawaii, while 42% plan to visit Nevada, and 33% will visit California.

AAA Hawaii offered the following tips for saving on holiday travel:

■If you fly to your destination, consider mailing holiday gifts ahead of time to avoid high baggage fees. Also, wrapped gifts can cause problems with the TSA screening process, so if you do bring gifts on the plane, wrap them at your destination.
■The last-minute holiday deal is back for many travel providers because of lower demand due to the economy. To take advantage, do some online research or let a travel agent do it for you. Travel agents don’t charge for their services, so you’ll get the same price on the deal and also save time.
■For long-distance road trips, plan your stops for gasoline with a tool like the AAA TripTik app for smartphones, which lists gas prices at stations all along your travel route. Price differences can be as much as 50 cents per gallon because gas stations near airports and key freeway locations may charge much higher prices, so it’s worth it to shop around first.
■Avoid speeding. It’s tempting to drive 75 miles an hour or more on an open highway, but doing that on a long-distance road trip could cost you $20 to $30 more per day in wasted fuel.
AAA Hawaii’s Holiday Travel Poll was conducted online by the AAA Marketing Research Department along with the Holiday Shopping Poll, which was released last week. The poll surveyed 361 AAA Hawaii members between Oct. 4 and Oct. 20. It has a margin of error of +/-5% and the differences between 2011 and 2010 results were tested for statistical significance at a 95% confidence level.

Foreclosures down 66% under new state law

By Andrew Gomes
Article from: Star-Advertiser

A 6-month-old Hawaii law continued to constrain the flow of foreclosures statewide in October, as a relative trickle of cases were initiated mainly through Circuit Court instead of a nonjudicial process through which most cases had been pouring prior to the law’s enactment.

Real estate research firm RealtyTrac counted 427 Hawaii foreclosure filings last month, which was 66 percent fewer than 1,271 filings in October 2010.

Last month’s count was the highest since the new law took effect May 5, but not by much. There were 414 cases in September, 413 in August, 390 in July and 344 in June.

The law initially prohibited lenders from proceeding with nonjudicial foreclosure against owner-occupants until a mediation program was available to borrowers. That program launched Oct. 3, but lenders as of Wednesday had yet to use the new nonjudicial process administered by the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

The new nonjudicial procedure forces lenders to participate in a mediation program with qualified borrowers if borrowers so choose. Qualified borrowers are mainly homeowners who have resided in their homes for a minimum 200 days. Excluded from mediation are foreclosures brought by homeowner associations or brought against investors.

Local attorneys representing lenders say the law is flawed and that the new nonjudicial process won’t be used because it provides for punitive penalties for even the most minor infractions.

The result has been more lenders — but not an overwhelming number — pursuing foreclosures in state court.

According to the state Judiciary, 338 new foreclosure cases were filed in court last month, about triple the 108 cases filed a year earlier. Judicial cases have roughly been between 200 and 300 per month since June, up from closer to 100 in the same months last year.

Historically, nonjudicial foreclosures represented an estimated 90 percent of foreclosures in Hawaii because they were faster and cheaper.

The Judiciary counts new cases filed. RealtyTrac counts new case filings as well as auction notices and lender repossessions. But because RealtyTrac collects its data from a variety of sources, it appears to undercount new judicial cases.

Under RealtyTrac’s methodology, 31 other states had higher, or worse, foreclosure rates than Hawaii, which had 1 filing for every 1,208 homes.

The national rate was one filing for every 563 homes. Nevada had the worst rate at 1 foreclosure filing per 180 homes. Vermont had the best rate based on 1 filing per 12,570 homes.

The year-over-year decline in foreclosure filings for Hawaii has conformed with a trend nationally that has existed for about a year after major national lenders were forced to review and revise the way they were processing cases and handling documents. James Saccacio, RealtyTrac’s chief executive officer, added that state law changes and court rulings also have upset the pace of foreclosures.

In Hawaii, there is a push for the Legislature to amend the law next year to make it more palatable to lenders while still protecting homeowners. A task force representing the mortgage industry and consumers is expected to release recommendations to the Legislature on ways to improve the foreclosure law by the end of the year.

Maryland tops Hawaii for millionaires

By Star-Advertiser staff
Article from: Star-Advertiser

You’re slightly more likely to meet a millionaire in Maryland than Hawaii, according to Phoenix Marketing International, a global marketing services firm.

The company issued its annual Global Wealth Monitor report that tracks affluent and high net worth households in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

The reports shows that about 7.22 percent of Maryland’s households are millionaires, compared to Hawaii’s 7.21 percent. Hawaii had led the rankings since 2008. Phoenix defines a millionaire household as one with $1 million or more in investable or liquid assets (excluding sponsored retirement plans and real estate).

Rounding out the top ten states in millionaires per population are New Jersey (7.19 percent), Connecticut (7.13 percent), Massachusetts (6.41 percent), Alaska (6.39 percent), Virginia (6.26 percent), New Hampshire (6.06 percent), California (6.01 percent), and the District of Columbia (5.88 percent).

“A few things are noteworthy from this year’s millionaire rankings,” said David Thompson, Managing Director of the Phoenix Global Wealth Monitor said in a news release. “First, this is the closest it’s ever been between the top two states. Second, all of the top ten states increased their millionaire ratios during the past year, which underscores that the richest states keep getting richer.”

Phoenix computes its data on the size of affluent and high net worth U.S. households on a mid-year to mid-year basis. As of the end of June, 2011, Phoenix estimates that the number of millionaires in the U.S. grew by 6.9 percent from the previous year, numbering some 5.9 million households.