Spurred by a surge in international airline traffic, total traffic at Sea-Tac Airport jumped by more than 10 percent during the year's first quarter.

International traffic at Sea-Tac increased 18.3 percent during January, February and March to 730,588 compared with 617,575 in the first three months of 2007.

Several airlines have inaugurated new international service at Sea-Tac. Air France is now serving Paris. Lufthansa is offering service to Frankfurt and Northwest is now competing with British Airways to London. Both Hainan and Northwest airlines plan new service from Sea-Tac to Beijing.

Domestic traffic for the first quarter totaled 6,428,837 passengers up 9.22 percent from the previous year's quarterly total of 5,885,990, according to airport figures. Combined domestic and international traffic increased 10.08 percent.

Sea-Tac's traffic increase was well above the norm for airports nationwide, perhaps an indication that the economy has yet to slow down as much here as in other regions.

In Denver, for instance, traffic is up 5.2 percent. In San Francisco, the total passenger count is up 6.6 percent. At Chicago's O'Hare Airport, passenger volume was down 8.98 percent in the first quarter.

Airlines warn that rising fares are beginning to hurt passenger traffic as the year moves onward. Fares are rising to compensate for rising fuel prices.

Major domestic airlines have raised prices 11 times this year to try to keep pace with fuel price increases. Any slowdown in passenger traffic typically lags be several months those price increases because many travelers buy their tickets month in advance.

The fish are back at Old Town Dock. (And the Copper River salmon arrives on Sunday.)

After closing as Johnny’s at the beginning of the year, the newly named and freshly remodeled and expanded Old Town Northern Fish opened yesterday.

“A lot of people are walking in and saying, ‘Wow!’” said Northern Fish Products corporate representative Jason Hutchinson at lunchtime today. That’s him standing with store manager Debbie Goss.

Along with a full line of seafood – fresh, frozen and prepared – the store offers a walk-up window, “Fishtales Bistro,” where patrons can buy lattes, espresso, smoothies and such.

Northern Fish has leased the over-water property from a longtime Puget Sound seafood family, the Marinkoviches. Northern was purchased in 1912 by Johannes Swanes, and five generations of the family have continued in the seafood business in the Northwest.
The dockside store opened in 1933 as Ocean Fish Co., and did business under that name through 1975, when it was bought by Johnny's Seafood Co. and renamed Johnny's Ocean Fish Co.

The store features 24 feet of display cases, with items ranging from clams, oysters and mussels to sea bass, octopus, tuna and trout. Prepared items include crab salad, shrimp pasta salad, pickled herring, naturally smoked salmon, ceviche, seaweed salad and the appendages of Alaskan and Dungeness crab.

Hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Sunday. The bistro opens daily at 6:30 a.m. and closes along with the store.

Earlier today, North Tacoma resident Ellen Cohen was enjoying both a bowl of seafood chowder and the company of her mother, Sylvia, who is visiting from New York City.

“I’ve been watching the progress,” Ellen said. “They did a very nice job. The quality of the fish looks good.”

“On a day like this it’s beautiful,” said Sylvia. “I’m going to go home and tell everybody.”

Moody's Investors Service has cut its outlook for SeaTac's Alaska Air Group from stable to negative because of anticipated financial issues related to high fuel prices.

The ratings service said its expects the airline holding company, parent of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, will lose money this year.

The company reaffirmed its debt ratings on the company at B1.

Alaska has relatively low debt and a large hoard of cash, but rising fuel prices are expected to tax that cash.

Airlines, including Alaska, hasn't been able to raise fares fast enough to keep pace with the rising cost of fuel.

Alaska's fuel costs are lower than average because it has the second largest fuel hedge position in the domestic airline industry after Southwest Airlines. Those fuel hedges allow the airline to buy about 50 percent of its fuel at less than market prices.

Denver's ProLogis plans to develop a five-building, 1.9-million-square-foot industrial park on land that once housed the Northern Pacific Railway shops.

The 115-acre South Tacoma tract is bordered roughly by South 36th Street, South 56th Street, South Tyler and South Burlington Way.

ProLogis Park Tacoma

When the park is fully developed, ProLogis estimates that between 572 and 950 workers could be employed there depending on what companies lease the buildings. The company has named it ProLogis Park Tacoma.

Prologis said it has not yet signed any leases for the space, but has had active inquiries from clients.

ProLogis spokeswoman Mo Sheahan said the company, the world's largest distribution facility developer, is seeking permits now for the site development. Once those permits are issued, the company will purchase the tract from Northern Pacific successor BNSF Railroad and begin construction of the first building.

The developer is seeking to buy land from Tacoma Public Utilities to provide access from the north end of the business park to South 35th Street and subsequently to Washington 16. Traffic studies have suggested that the truck traffic generated by the warehouses be discouraged from using the southern access at South 56th Street, said Tacoma Economic Development Director Ryan Petty.

The railroad stopped using the land in 1974 and demolished most of the brick railroad shop buildings there. Other than a few small uses, the site has been vacant for more than three decades.

The acreage was for many years an Environmental Protection Agency Superfund cleanup site. Cleanup was completed last year, Petty said.

ProLogis owns 1.5 mllion square feet of distribution warehouses in the Seattle-Tacoma area divided among ten buildings. When the South Tacoma site is fully developed, the park will more than double ProLogis' Puget Sound square footage.

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acoma firefighters responded to the report of a propone leak at Simpson Kraft shortly before 9 a.m. this morning.

An employee noticed the leak as he walked by the 1,000-gallon propane tank, said John Conkle, vice president and general manager of Simpson Tacoma Kraft. The leak apparently came from a hose connected to the tank.

The company uses the propane to fuel its fork lifts, said Conkle.

The workers were evacuated from the area around the tank by the time firefighters arrived.

Firefighter went in and shut off the leak at the valve below the hose. Officials estimated that about 600 gallons of propane leaked out before the valve was shut off.

Officials have gone through the building with their censors.

"The air is all clear," said Kevin O'Donnal, Tacoma Fire spokesman. "Everything is under control."

Workers were returning to their duties.

No injuries were reported.

We're thinking about starting a new feature aimed at small business owners. It starts with the calls, e-mails and notes we get every week from those small biz folks who have something important to say about their life's work. We don't always know what to do with these communications - there is limited space, but we would like to help in the telling of these stories.
So here's what we have in mind: For now, we'll call it "Six Questions."
If you own a business and have something to say, then let us know. An anniversary? A major change of some sort? A milestone? Something unique?
For now, if you'd like to play, send me an e-mail at c.r.roberts@thenewstribune.com. Explain the who/what/when/where/why. I'll get back to you.
Today: Jasminka.

Jasminka

This specialty store, located at 3820 N. 26th St. in Tacoma’s Proctor District, sells women’s fashions and accessories. Owner Rondi Bofkovich recently answered our slate of Six Small-Biz Questions.

What’s the occasion?
We’ve been in business for 25 years. We’re having an anniversary sale starting Thursday (today), with everything on sale, 25 percent off, for four days.

What’s the secret to your success?
I don’t follow trends. I’m trying to find something different. I get bored. My customers get bored. They like a good quality, comfortable product. I think I sell an unusual line of clothing.

What changes are you making, if any, to build your business?
I have switched to e-mail. I used to send out postcards. I can send out e-mail for a lot less. People need to be reminded. You can’t assume people are just going to walk in. That has made quite a difference in the past couple of years. Also, I just got a Web site.

What’s the best part of owning a small business?
I can sell what I want to whom I want. There’s a lot of interesting stuff out there. I really like what I sell. You tend to sell to people you like. I’ve cultivated an interesting client list. My demographic is probably – the biggest group is teachers. They’re educated, well traveled, nice, fun people. I don’t make a ton of money, but I do like that I do.

What’s the biggest challenge?
Paying the bills. Just because you own you own your own business doesn’t mean you’re wealthy.

What’s the biggest and best lesson you’ve learned about business?
It’s not for sissies. You’ve got to have a certain amount of naiveté, or you probably wouldn’t do it.