BUSINESS BRIEFS
Hawaiian, Aloha, go! offer $29 fare
Advertiser Staff
Hawai'i's three major airlines are offering limited $29 one-way tickets for interisland travel from today through the end of February.
The tickets, which must be purchased online by midnight tomorrow, are being offered by Hawaiian Airlines, Aloha Airlines and go! airline.
Tickets include U.S. taxes. Other fees and restrictions may apply.
HAWAI'I STILL PAYING MOST FOR GAS
Gas prices across the country are down — and Hawai'i still has the highest prices in the nation.
AAA and the Oil Price Information Service say the national average is $2.98 a gallon.
In Hawai'i, it's $3.50 a gallon. That's up 56 cents from a year ago.
The Honolulu average is $3.36 for regular and $3.62 for premium.
Wailuku, Maui, has the highest average in the nation, with $3.85 for regular and $4.15 for premium.
Nationally, retail gas prices have mostly fallen since oil began its retreat from the record $100 level earlier this month.
ACI, BLUE LAVA GOING TO UTAH EVENT
Two Hawai'i technology companies will be among the firms making pitches for more venture capital at an investors conference in Utah next month.
The 24th annual Investors Choice Venture Capital Conference in Midway, Utah, features presentations from information technology, life sciences and clean-tech companies based in Utah, Hawai'i and other states. In 2006 about half of the presenting companies raised capital.
The Hawai'i companies presenting during the Feb. 6 and 7 conference include ACI and Blue Lava Technologies.
ACI will present during a portion of the conference where later-stage companies with $1 million or more in annual sales will discuss its business. Blue Lava is among the "early stage" companies that have less than $1 million in annual sales. The company's iLovePhotos helps users share photos with people in each picture and can create slide shows out of photos.
MAUI BREWING CAPACITY TO INCREASE
Maui Brewing Co. said it has added two 100-barrel tanks that will allow it to double the brewing capacity at its Lahaina facility.
Founder Garrett Marrero and his wife, Melanie, run a seven-barrel brew-pub in Kahana and a 25-barrel full production brewery and canning facility in Lahaina.
The equipment used to can Maui Brewing Co.'s beer was previously used by Maui Pineapple Co. to can pineapples, Marrero said. The company quit canning pineapples last year to focus on the fresh fruit market.
BIG ISLE POLICE CONTRACT N.J. FIRM
BIO-Key International Inc., a New Jersey maker of wireless information systems for public safety agencies, said it was awarded a $344,000 contract by the Hawai'i County Police Department.
BIO-Key said it will be deploying software that allows police officers to use laptops in their cars to wirelessly message and query local, state and federal databases for outstanding warrants and stolen vehicles. It said each of the Police Department's vehicles will be equipped with software that allows dispatchers to determine which units are closest to an incident.
