Business briefs

Advertiser Staff

Cook Islands flights planned

Aloha Airlines has announced it will begin nonstop service between Honolulu and the Cook Islands in December.

Aloha Flight 321 to the island of Rarotonga starts Dec. 9 and will use a 124-seat Boeing 737-700. The flight will depart Honolulu on Mondays and Fridays at 9 a.m. and arrive in Rarotonga at 3:18 p.m. The return flight, 322, will depart Rarotonga on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 11 a.m. and arrive in Honolulu at 5:15 p.m.

The service will operate twice a week until April. From May through September 2003, Aloha said it plans to reduce the service to once a week to match slower seasonal demand.

Torstar to invest in Black Press

One of Canada's largest publishing businesses said it will invest in the parent company of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and MidWeek newspapers, acquiring 19 percent of Black Press Inc. for about $12.6 million.

The deal by Torstar Corp., a publicly traded company, will help Victoria, British Columbia-based Black Press expand in Western Canada. The investment should not affect operations of the company's Hawai'i papers, said Black Press President David Black.

Toronto, Ontario-based Torstar publishes four daily newspapers, including Canada's largest, The Toronto Star, and 69 community newspapers. The company, with nearly $900 million in revenue last year, also owns Internet-related businesses and romance fiction publisher Harlequin Enterprises.

Privately held Black Press operates 88 newspapers and 11 printing plants in Western Canada, Washington State and Hawai'i, bringing in about $150 million in annual revenue. The company acquired the Star-Bulletin, MidWeek and MidWeek's printing press in late 2000.