Boeing's training and flight services operation has discarded the Alteon name which it has operated under since 2002 and become simply Boeing Training and Flight Services.

The Boeing division, headquartered in Renton, save the new name reflects the division's upgraded capabilities in flight and flight dispatch documentation, aircraft performance data, operational consulting as well as its traditional pilot, maintenance and cabin training operations.

Unless you were in the aviation industry, you probably had no idea what Alteon did. Like other consultant-generated names such as Avista (the former Washington Water Power), Allegis (once the corporate parent for United Airlines, Hertz and Westin Hotels) Amfac (the owner of Liberty House, once one of Tacoma Mall's anchor stores), the name gave no clue about the business. The new name says it all.

We told you earlier this week that Alaska Airlines' passenger numbers were up in July. That was wrong. The number of passengers flying on the SeaTac-based carrier actually fell 6.9 percent

What we should have said was that the airline's revenue passenger miles were up by .1 percent. A revenue-passenger-mile is one passenger flown one mile.

How could the number of passengers the airline carried last month be down but the number of miles they were carried times the number of passengers be up? Because the average flight was longer. Alaska, for instance, has added a number of Hawaiian destinations and Minneapolis to its schedule since last year. And it plans to continue the trend of adding longer routes to its map. The airline began trips to Austin, Texas recently and it plans to add Houston and Atlanta to its available itineraries on Sept. 23 and Oct. 23.

Worth noting: As revenue-passenger-miles rose, available-passenger-miles fell by 5.4 percent translating to fuller planes in July for Alaska.

Boeing's European rival, Airbus, is winning both the race to deliver airliners and to sign orders through the first seven months of 2009, new figures from both manufacturers show.

Airbus reported this week that it delivered 34 aircraft in July, bringing its total for the year to 288. Boeing delivered 279 aircraft through Tuesday.

On the order front, Airbus has booked 140 gross orders for 2009. Cancellations of existing orders drop the net for the year to 118.

Boeing reported 129 gross orders, but heavy cancellations for its delayed 787 Dreamliner reduced the net to just 40 for the year.

Boeing is still "weeks away" from issuing an updated schedule for the first flight of its oft-delayed 787 Dreamliner, the plane's chief engineer said this week.

Chris Musoke told a meeting of the Organization of Black Airline Pilots that the company is still studying how best to retrofit the plane's wing-body joint to deal with strength issues, Reuters reported.

Boeing in late June postponed the plane's first flight because of problems with premature cracking of the wing-body joint in tests at the company's Everett plant.

The aircraft is already two years behind schedule because of production, design and labor issues. Airlines have ordered more than 800 of the fuel-efficient twin jet.