Boeing expects to trim its Puget Sound commercial airplane division payroll by 4,500 workers this year, but Boeing's largest unions are wondering why such cutbacks are necessary.

“These announced layoffs are puzzling,” said Ray Goforth, executive director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace. “With the company struggling to overcome problems from its failed outsourcing business model, these types of prophylactic layoffs seem counterproductive.”

SPEEA represents more than 20,000 engineers and technical workers.

At Boeing's largest union, the International Association of Machinists, Tom Wroblewski, the union president, said he believes Boeing has other money-saving options.

"We will push them to retain their valued employees," he said.

Boeing continues to hire production line workers adding 19 new machinists today. More than 23 percent of Boeing's union engineers worked 12 or more hours of overtime each week, their union said.

As recently as a month ago, Boeing's board increased its dividend, Goforth said.

"This dividend increase reflects our strong financial performance, record backlog and significant liquidity,” Boeing Chairman Jim McNerney said then.

“We wonder what has changed since Dec. 10,” said Goforth. “The company doesn’t have any financial reason for layoffs.”

The company's earnings through the first nine months of 2008 were down 9 percent to $2.76 billion. In the third quarter, earnings fell 38 percent.

A major part of that decline, however, was generated by a 58-day Machinists Union strike that started in September. That strike shut down commercial airplane production for more than two months.

The company said the first cutbacks will occur among non-union workers. Boeing told the Machinists Union will be "minimal" on its membership, said union spokeswoman Connie Kelliher.

Boeing said the payroll reductions will be aimed mainly at "overhead" and support staff workers, not production line mechanics.

"Overhead" staffers include clerical workers, human resources and public relations staff members just to name a few of the categories of workers affected, said Boeing spokesman Jim Proulx.

The company is tightening its belt and returning its payroll levels to the numbers it employed at the beginning of last year, about 63,500 in the Commercial Airplanes Group.

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The Boeing Co. and its engineering and technical workers union settled on a new 4-year contract for workers in the Puget Sound area and other locations in the West in December, but the two sides are still without a contract in Wichita.

The union and the company hope to resolve that standoff beginning Tuesday when negotiations resume after a holiday break and cooling-off period.

Much, including wages, overtime, medical co-pays and holidays, remains to be resolved.

As it did in the the Puget Sound negotiations, Boeing has proposed that the 700 engineers in Wichita represented by the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, give up traditional pension coverage for new hires in favor of an enhanced 401-K retirement plan.

The company has also proposed increased worker cost sharing of medical expenses.

The new Puget Sound contract doesn't include those Boeing proposed changes.

The Air Force is looking for a replacements for two 18-year-old Boeing 747s that serve as presidential aircraft.

Likely candidates include modified versions of Boeing's new 747-8 and Airbus' A380 super jumbo jet.

The Air Force Materiel Command asked likely bidders to submit preliminary proposals by Jan. 29.

The Air Force expects to begin retiring the existing aircraft in 2017. It is seeking three planes to replace the two now in service.

Could the Air Force chose the European-built A380 to replace the Boeing-built and U.S.-made 747s?

There is precedent for buying foreign. A new fleet of presidential helicopters is coming from European sources, and the Air Force chose Airbus to furnish new aerial tankers to replace Boeing KC-135s.

That tanker competition is now in limbo after the Government Accounting Office found that the Air Force violated its own rules in picking Airbus.

The Airbus plane would be larger than Boeing's with two full decks for passenger and VIP accomodation.

The new 747-8 carries about 85 fewer passengers than the A380. It will feature new fuel-efficient engines, modified wings and new electronics compared with the existing models.

The presidential plane will be different from conventional 747s in that it will feature aerial refueling capabilities, advanced defense, electronics and communications capabilities.

The present planes were delivered in 1990. They are modified versions of the 747-200.

Horizon Air is offering special fares through Saturday for Eastern Washington destinations cut off by adverse weather from the west side of the state.

The SeaTac-based airline is selling seats for $119 one way for flights between Tri-Cities, Pullman, Spokane, Walla Walla, Wenatchee, Yakima and Lewiston/Clarkston and Sea-Tac Airport. The normal price for last-minute, walkup fares is $149 or more.

The new fare imitates a flood fare the airline is offering for flights between Sea-Tac and Portland. Interstate 5 has been closed between the two cities since Wednesday, and railroad tracks near Chehalis were under several inches of water.

"The region is our backyard, and these are our communities. We want to extend a helping hand to folks by offering this special fare to these affected cities," said Horizon's Dan Russo, vice president of marketing and communications.