Lights! Camera! Summer!
The kids may be looking forward to another installment in the life of Harry Potter - but we’re more interested in Henry Potter, the character played by Lionel Barrymore in the classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
Which is one of our favorite business-related movies.

What’s yours?

We’re conducting a poll. What’s your favorite movie where the plot turns in the world of business?
It might be anything from “Office Space” to “Citizen Kane.”

We’ve developed a list. Join us. Vote for your favorite. Tell us why you’re right.

And look for the results in Sunday’s business section in The News Tribune. (Personally, I don’t see how anything can beat “Glengarry Glen Ross.”)

Boeing Commercial Airplanes Group Scott Carson said today the successor to Boeing's ever-popular 737 won't likely take to the skies before 2015.

Carson, speaking to reporters at the Paris Air Show, said he wants engine technology to advance further before committing Boeing to designing an all-new single-aisle aircraft. Boeing has sold more than 6,000 737s, making it most popular jet airliner in history.

Using presently available technology, he said, Boeing could build a single-aisle plane that would be about 15 percent more efficient that the 737, but he wants an game-changing plane to be at least 20 percent more fuel efficient than the 737.

Aircraft engine makers are testing several advanced engines for single-aisle planes including geared turbines, unducted fans and advanced conventional engines.

The Washington Employment Security Department has issued an analysis of the role of the military in the state’s economy.
Economists Dave Wallace and Paul Turek have found that military related jobs are “particularly important to local areas such as Kitsap and Pierce counties,” and that the impact comes both from direct employment and procurement.
“Seattle,” for instance, “is hardly impacted by military employment, but received almost half of the nearly $5 billion in military contracts awarded to Washington in 2006."
Among the findings:
• 4 percent of Department of Defense personnel were employed in Washington in 2005.
• Military employment Washington, both active-duty and civilian, marked 71,440 positions in September, 2005.
• Kitsap and Pierce counties totaled nearly three-fourths of the state’s military employment in 2005.
• Fort Lewis generated 26,662 positions in 2005, and McChord Air Force Base 4,916.
• 49 percent of the military jobs in the state were in Pierce County; 30 percent in Kitsap County; and 7 percent in Island County. Other positions were filled in Spokane, King, Snohomish and Spokane counties.
• Throughout the state, 34 percent of military-related employment is civilian.
• In 2005, 13 percent of all jobs in Pierce County could be classified as military-related. In Kitsap County, the figure was 24.9 percent, and in Island County, 32.8 percent.
To view the full report, visit www.workforceexplorer.com.

Airbus got a jump on Boeing out of the starting gate today in the every-other-year commercial airplane order derby at the Paris Air Show.

The European manufacturer's orders announced today were significant but not unexpected. Most came from Mideast airlines that were long-time Airbus customers who had signaled their intent to order more Airbus planes.

One Mideast from came from Emirates of Dubai, which ordered eight more superjumbo A380s bringing the number A380s it has ordered to 55.

Qatar Airways ordered 80 A350XWBs, Airbus' rival to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. The airline also ordered three A380s and three A320s.

The airline was an original customer for the A350, but had delayed reconfirming its order after Airbus repeatedly redesigned the aircraft to better compete with the 787.

Jazeera Airways signed an order for 30 narrow-bodied A320s, and two orders for the A320 came from Nouvelair, a charter operator in Tunisia.

The day's biggest order came from Phoenix's U.S. Airways which ordered a total of 92 planes from Airbus including 22 A350s, 60 A320s and 10 A330s. Airbus had provided USAir with a $250 million loan to help it through bankruptcy.

Meanwhile Boeing announced an order of 40 more 737-900ERs from Indonesia's Lion Air and another order from General Electric's leasing arm for seven 777 freighters.

Emirates did not pick between the 787 and the A350XWB for its mid-sized jet preferring to make its design decision when the A350XWB is more fully designed.

There's a rare worker who hasn't considered calling in sick on a particularly sunny day.

The last time I played hooky (before I became incredibly responsible and gainfully employed by The News Tribune, of course) my thoughtful co-workers stopped by to bring me some chicken noodle soup. But I wasn't there. Oops.

Ceridian Lifeworks, a Minnesota-based provider of Employee Assistance programs, recently asked human resource managers to share the most bizarre reasons employees have given for missing work.

Among them:

- I was trapped in my house by a skunk.
- I have head lice.
- The barometer was too high.
- The neighbor's dog died in front of my garage, and I couldn't get the door open.
- I couldn't open my garage door because the power went off.
- My car tires were repossessed, and my car was up on blocks.

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