With its capacity falling faster than its business, SeaTac's Alaska Airlines filled a higher percentage of its seats and arrived on time more frequently this October than a year ago.

Those figures released by the airline today show that 73.6 percent of the airline's seats were occupied by paying passengers in October compared with 71.6 percent in October of 2007.

The airline's on-time performance increased markedly. Flights were on-time 84.4 percent this October compared with 70.1 percent during the same month in 2007.

At Alaska's sister airline, Horizon Air, the percentage of seats filled dropped to 71.1 percent in October compared with 72 percent in the comparable month last year, the airline said.

On-time arrivals totaled 89.4 percent of flights compared with 80.1 percent in October 2007.

Revenue passenger miles (one passenger flown one mile) dropped at both airlines. At Alaska, that figure fell 1 percent but available seat miles fell faster, 3.7 percent.

At Horizon, revenue passenger miles fell 22 percent while available seat miles dropped 21 percent.

A Chinese newspaper says China could be producing a rival for the popular Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 by 2015.

China Daily, quoting a senior Chinese aircraft designer, said the plane will have a capacity of 150-200 seats.

The Chinese are just now fielding a smaller plane, the 70-seat ARJ21.

Airbus is setting up a production line for its A320 family of single-aisle jets, and Boeing is outsourcing major parts of all its commercial jets to Chinese manufacturers.

The newspaper said Chinese manufacturers will source parts for the new plane from manufacturers around the world.

China is likely to be the world's largest commercial aviation market over the next decade as it enlarges its aviation infrastructure to serve its huge population.

Previous Asian efforts to design and produce commercial aircraft have failed in part because of a lack of a worldwide service network and because of airlines' unfamiliarity with Asian manufacturers.

Air China Cargo has ordered three 747 converted freighter aircraft from Boeing, the company and the airline announced today.

The three 747s, already owned by Air China, will be converted to cargo aircraft at Taikoo Aircraft Engineering Co. in Xiamen, China under Boeing supervision.

"We look forward to our Boeing 747-400BCFs being of the same high quality as the factory-built airplanes we operate," said Air China Cargo President Yao Jun.

The conversion process will strengthen the airliners' floors, add a large cargo door and add a cargo handling system. Other plane electronic systems will be updated.

Air China Cargo currently operates eight freighters including three purpose-built 747-400 freighters. Two more 747-400 Freighters are leased, and three 747-200 Freighters are owned by the airline.

After several days to discussing side issues at the bargaining table, the Boeing Co. today says it is submitting its initial proposed contract to its engineering and technical workers union.

That union, the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, presented its initial contract proposal to the company in late September.

SPEEA represent more than 20,000 engineers and technical workers in the Puget Sound area. Its contract with Boeing expires Dec. 1.

Boeing Chairman Jim McNerney in a message to Boeing workers this week said he was hopeful that the bargaining with SPEEA will lead to a new contract. Boeing's machinists recently returned to work after an eight-week strike.

The company says it wants to conclude its negotiations with SPEEA by Nov. 11, next Tuesday. SPEEA members will then vote by mail.

A simple majority will be enough to ratify the contract.

If a majority fails to vote for Boeing's final offer, the union can call a strike at any time after the contract expiration.

A failure to ratify won't necessarily mean a strike Dec. 2. Typically SPEEA will use the strike vote to seek further meetings with the company before going to the picket lines.

Some sources think the engineers and tech workers, if unhappy with Boeing's proposal, will wait until after Boeing's two-week holiday break before striking if necessary.

Southwest Airlines, Sea-Tac Airport's fifth most popular carrier, announced schedule changes today that will add 58 new flights nationwide beginning next spring.

At Sea-Tac, the carrier added no new destinations, but tweaked its flight schedule based on demand.

The Dallas-based carrier beginning March 8 will:

* Add a third daily flight from Sea-Tac to Chicago's Midway Airport.
* Increase its schedule to Las Vegas by one flight daily to four.
* Reduce its flights connecting the Puget Sound area to Sacramento by one. That leaves four daily flights to the California capital.
* Drop one daily flight to San Jose,leaving three.
* Reduce its daily flights to Boise to two, one less than now.

The biggest change in Southwest's schedule nationwide is its entrance into Minneapolis-St.Paul, one of the few large metropolitan areas it does not serve. The airline will fly eight times daily to its Chicago Midway hub from the twin cities.

The promotional fare on those flights is $69 one way compared with the least expensive present fare by Northwest, United or American of $426 according to Rick Seaney at Farecompare.com.