Sea-Tac's dominant airlines, Alaska Air Group's Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, are testing new satellite navigation procedures that could save 2.1 million gallons of fuel a year at the airport.

The new procedures, pioneered 15 years ago by Alaska to improve the reliability of its flights into difficult and weather-challenged airports in the 49th State, could also cut down on noise that some residents must endure from landing aircraft.

The Required Navigation Performance procedures use global position satellites to precisely position an incoming plane along a programed approach path.

That approach path, unlike traditional stairstep approaches allows aircraft to make more efficient continuous descents to the runways.

The new procedures can also cut down on the length of the approaches allowing aircraft to avoid some neighborhoods altogether and to shorten their approaches, cutting fuel use.

Alaska is the only carrier in the U.S. whose whole fleet is equipped for RNP procedures. Horizon soon will have its entire fleet similarly capable.

Alaska and Horizon together provide about half of the air transport to and from Sea-Tac Airport.

Plans to renovate the 49-unit Olympus Hotel, 817 Pacific Ave., are moving forward.

The Korean Women's Association bought the affordable housing project in the fall of 2008, and since then it has secured about $500,000 from the state's Housing Trust Fund.

Jeannie Darneille, interim executive director of the KWA, said Thursday that the organization is looking at putting out requests for bids in August for improvements to tenant spaces using that money.

The group hasn't decided what to do yet, but Darneille said it could be anything from weatherization and safety improvements to carpet and painting.

This is the first phase of the KWA's renovation plan for the hotel, which was built in 1909.

"We're looking at 1.1 to 1.2 million dollars in renovations (to get to) the point where we envision to be," Darneille said.

That includes finding a tenant for the basement of the historic hotel, which is about 6,000 square feet. Darneille said about 1,200 square feet of that is being used as preparation space by Paddy Coyne's Irish Pub, which has a ground-floor entrance onto Pacific Avenue.

The basement space is accessed by elevator in the foyer of the hotel.

"We love our relationship with Paddy Coyne's and want to work to maintain that," Darneille said.

Washington Sen. Patty Murray today lauded a proposed 400-acre solar project near Cle Elum in Kittitas County.

The Teanaway Solar Reserve is expected to generate enough electricity to power 45,000 homes when it goes into operation in 2011.

"This project is more than just an energy creator, it's a jobs creator," said Murray. The proposed Teanaway Solar Reserve would create hudreds of new jobs from the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in Kittitas County," she said.

The jobs will be created in the manufacturing of the 400,000 50-by-40-inch that will be built in area.

The panels, if were mounted touching one another would cover about 66 acres of land. But the panels will be mounted separately with corridors of vegetation between them.

The land proposed for the solar voltaic array is a south-facing mountainside about four miles from Cle Elum.

The land has been logged over. The area receives about 300 days of sunshine a year.

The project expects to sell its renewable power to Washington untilies who are now mandated by state law to buy 15 percent of their power from green sources.

The solar power project is the largest in the Northwest, and one of the largest is the country.

Portland's SeaPort Airlines expects to start service this fall to provide air connections from four Arkansas cities to Memphis.

Those four cities, Harrison, Jonesboro, El Dorado and Hot Springs have been without airline passenger service for more than a year.

SeaPort provides commuter service 10 times daily between downtown Seattle's Boeing Field and Portland.

SeaPort will use the same kind of aircraft in Arkansas, the single-engine turboprop Pilatus PC-12, that it uses in its Seattle-Portland flights. The PC-12 carries nine passengers.

The four Arkansas communities have been without air service since June of last year when Mesa Air Group dissolved it Air Midwest subsidiary. Mesa flew between the Arkansas cities and Dallas-Fort Worth.

SeaPort will receive a federal Essential Air Service subsidy of $6 million. Great Lakes Airlines had originally signed up to provide the service, but withdrew in April because it had trouble finding enough Beech 1900D twin turboprops to provide the service. The Beech has 19 seats.

SeaPort also connects Portland with Newport, Astoria and Pendleton in its home state.

I remember being miffed, years ago, when Hallmark began trotting out its Christmas decor before Halloween.

Halloween? How about the 4th of July?

There’s a story in today’s business section about how Sears started its Christmas push last weekend, “while most of America was recovering from Fourth of July fireworks and cookouts.”

I remember waiting until Thanksgiving weekend for the smell of a fir tree, the sounds of the Salvation Army bells and the spell of the carols sung by choirs. Now, nearly six months before the actual holiday, Sears and Kmart are celebrating the season with Christmas sales.

Retailers blame the recession, the article says. They want to attract traditional 4th-quarter business a few months early.

“The phenomenon, known as Christmas creep, is expected to kick into overdrive this year as retailers fight for their share of shoppers’ shrinking pocketbooks,” the article continues.

It’s Christmas creepy, if you ask me. It’s one thing to keep Christmas in your heart all year long - it’s another to leapfrog the summer’s Back-to-School bargains with a sale on parkas and snow blowers in early July.

Have Dasher, Blitzen and Rudolph even got their winter coats yet?

What would Santa say?