SeaTac's Alaska Airlines says it's not expecting to ground planes or cancel flights to carry out federally mandated aircraft inspections as other airlines have done.

Alaska has 51 planes in its fleet, 10 MD-80s and 40 737-400s, subject to recent Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness directives.

Both American and Delta airlines have canceled hundreds of flights after they discovered discrepancies in their inspection records of MD-80 wiring issues.

The FAA has also required airline owners of older 737s to inspect bolts on the planes' wing slats that could work loose and pierce the planes' fuel tanks.

Alaska reviewed its records of the MD-80 wiring inspections and found them in compliance with FAA requirements. The airline has also done precautionary physical inspections of the wiring while the planes were idle overnight and found no problems, she said.

Alaska said it expects to complete all required checks of the slats well before the FAA deadline, 90 days after April 8.

American Airlines canceled two Dallas flights from Sea-Tac Airport today as it continued inspections of wiring in its fleet of MD-80 airliners.

American cancelled both its 9:50 a.m. and its 11:05 a.m. flights to Dallas-Fort Worth today as it continued inspections of wiring bundles that power an auxilary hydraulic system in the McDonnell-Douglas-built aircraft.

Those flights were among 132 flights American was to cancel nationwide today. The airline cancelled 318 flights Wednesday. Only one of those flights originated at Sea-Tac.

Meanwhile, Delta Airlines, which is also reinspecting wiring on its MD-88 aircraft, canceled no Sea-Tac flights today.

The Atlanta-based Delta canceled 275 flights system-wide today as it grounded its 117 MD-88s for the wiring inspection.

Delta doesn't ordinarily fly MD-88s from Sea-Tac because most of its routes from here, to New York, Atlanta and Cincinnati, are beyond the MD-88's range.
The airline does fly from here to Salt Lake City but uses other aircraft for those flights.

Sea-Tac's newest foreign carrier, Hainan Airlines, today announced a $580 introductory roundtrip fare from Sea-Tac to Beijing.

That fare does not include $68 in extra security fees and taxes.

That fare is good for travel beginning from Seattle between June 9 and June 30. Returns must depart Beijing by July 31. The tickets must be reserved by April 15.

Hainan, China's largest privately owned airline, will use Airbus A330-200 aircraft with 36 business class and 186 economy class seats on the route.

The airline will provide the only non-stop service to Beijing from Sea-Tac. Travelers seeking to fly to the Chinese capital otherwise have to connect either in San Francisco or Los Angeles or Vancouver, B.C. or at an Asian hub city such as Tokyo or Seoul.

The westbound flight will operate four times weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The flight to Beijing will take 11.5 hours. The return flight is 10.5 hours.

Turkmenistan Airlines has ordered three Next Generation Boeing 737s, The Boeing Co. confirmed today.

Those aircraft, one 737-700 and two 737-900ERs, are valued at $221 million at list prices.

Boeing has now logged more than 7,800 orders for its 737, the world's most popular jetliner. The company's order book contains unfilled orders for more than 2,100 737s valued at $150 billion.

At present production rates, that backlog represents nearly six years' production at Boeing's Renton plant.

The 737 decades ago was selling so poorly that Boeing considered discontinuing the aircraft's production. Boeing expects to introduce a successor to the 737 sometime between 2015 and 2017.

This story out of a hearing in Thurston County last night.

Rolf Boone
The Olympian

LACEY — An overwhelming majority of residents at a meeting Wednesday urged Thurston County commissioners to vote this year on a rezoning request that would prevent industrial use of Maytown property.

Of the 80 people at the meeting at the Thurston County Fairgrounds, only six expressed opposition to adding the rezoning request to a list of proposed county development code changes that commissioners will vote on this year.

At issue is a 745-acre parcel that the Port of Tacoma purchased for use as a possible site for a South Sound Logistics Center.

The Port of Tacoma bought the Maytown site in 2006 for $22 million. Officials envision using it to transfer cargo from trucks to trains to speed deliveries of goods by taking trucks off of Interstate 5. The Tacoma port is studying the project with the Port of Olympia.

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The Tacoma Dome Boat Show opens today and runs through Sunday.

Here's what the show's producers want you to see:

LEARNING LAB: Making its first appearance in the Northwest, the 48-foot semi trailer that houses the Crownline Mobile Learning Lab. The public is invited free of charge to walk through the display, which shows how the popular family boats are designed and constructed.

BOATS TO BUY: More than 500 boats on display, ranging from coastal cruisers, family runabouts and inflatables to jet boats, personal watercraft and pontoon boats that can pull skiers! New this year is the “priced-to-sell” pre-owned boat display, featuring used boats handpicked by participating dealers to sell at the show.

GADGETS: Displays featuring the latest boating accessories – including marine electronics, parts and accessories.

PORTABLE KAYAKS: Be sure to check out Alki Beach Boats’ display of Walker Bay Boat’s Airis inflatable kayaks (8-feet to11-feet). Sold in a backpack carrier, Airis kayaks weigh up to 20 pounds and are designed for easy storage.

ADMISSION: Admission to the show is $9.00 for adults, $7.00 for seniors and free to children 12 and under.