Northwest Airlines has joined American, United and US Airways in charging $15 for the first checked bag.

The Minnesota-based airline announced today that the fee will apply to all tickets bought Thursday and later for travel beginning on Aug. 28 or after.

Northwest and most other major U.S. airlines already charges $25 for the second bag checked.

In that same announcement, the airline said it will increase the change fees for non-refundable tickets from $100 to $150.

The airline also said it will reduce its 34,000-employee workforce by 2,500. Employess will be offered buyouts.

The new fees and layoffs are driven by higher fuel prices, the airline said.

Occupancy at Pierce County hotels rose at a modest rate in May – higher than the statewide occupancy rate, but less than a handful of other regions. In May, 74.1 percent of county rooms were occupied, up 2.2 percent from the year before.

Statewide, 76.8 percent of rooms were taken, up 1.6 percent from 2007, according to Bellevue hospitality consultant Wolfgang Rood.

The cost of an average room in the Tacoma, $85.94, was up 13.2 percent over the year, Rood said. The figure indicates an increase higher than anywhere else in the state and higher than the statewide average increase, up 2.6 percent.

The average statewide cost of a room stood at $128.09 in May, with downtown Seattle showing the largest cost, at $167.52 – down 1.4 percent from 2007. All other regions reported an increase for the month, with the Tri-Cities and Spokane up 11.5 percent and 10 percent respectively.

Airbus barely edged out Boeing in first half airliner orders, new figures released today show.

The European aircraft maker netted 487 orders in the first six months of 2008 versus Boeing's 475, figures from the two manufacturers show.

Airbus delivered 245 planes in the first half compared with Boeing's 241.

Boeing and a Canadian company plan to build a hybrid blimp-helicopter designed to carry heavy loads to remote locations.

SkyHook International Inc. has partnered with Boeing's helicopter division in Pennsylvania to build the huge lifting aircraft that will handle payloads twice that of the world's largest helicopter, Russia's Mil MI-26.

The MI uses some 22,000 horsepower to lift 20 tons. The Boeing-Skyhook aircraft will use 21,000 horsepower to lift 40 tons.

The advantage the Boeing-Skyhook craft has is that the large blimp-like envelope will create enough lift to hold aloft its own weight and that of the four engines and rotors. The rotors then will use their thrust to lift the payload.

The preliminary design shows a large gas envelope coupled to four rotors on pylons. Boeing will use its experience with the CH-47 Chinook helicopter to design the rotors and its expertise with flight control software from the 787 to create the control system.

Skyhook JHL-40

The new blimp-like aircraft is expected to debut in 2012. In concept, it mirrors a failed 1980s effort by Piasecki Aircraft to create a similar hybrid device.

That device include a blimp-like gas bag coupled to a crude metal framework that carried four tail-less H-34 helicopters controlled from one cockpit.

Piasecki PA-97

The craft crashed when vibrations within the framework caused the framework to fail. One of the helicopters separated from the metal framework, its rotor slashing into the gas bag. The other three helicopters then uncoupled from the frame and fell to the ground killing the pilot.

The Federal Aviation is ordering airlines operating Boeing MD-80 jets to do new inspection of the plane's wings for possible fatigue cracks.

The airlines operating the planes must conduct the inspections within two years or 20,000 landings and takeoffs.

The inspection orders come in the wake of recent FAA orders to inspect MD-80s' wiring that grounded the nation's fleet of the McDonnell Douglas-designed planes last spring.

American and Delta Airlines will be most severely affected by the order. American has 212 MD-80s in its fleet. Delta has 117.

SeaTac-based Alaska Airlines has seven MD-80s in its fleet but plans to retire them by September.

American Airlines will eliminate three daily flights from Sea-Tac Airport this fall in its effort to prune unprofitable flights from its schedule.

The Fort worth, Texas-based airline will eliminate a daily non-stop from Seattle to Austin, Texas, one of eight daily flights to its Dallas hub and a single flight to St. Louis. The Austin flight will be eliminated beginning Sept. 3. The other two flights will disappear from the schedule on Nov. 2.

The airline is laying off or offering voluntary severance packages to 22 Sea-Tac workers.

The airline is cutting back about 6,500 jobs nationwide and grounding 75 planes.