New figures from the federal Bureau of Transporation Statistics showed Hawaiian Airlines fared the best for multi-hour tarmac delays in June.

The Honolulu-based carrier suffered no delays over two hours during that month, the latest for which the BTS has gathered figures.

Second best was SeaTac's Alaska Airlines with just two delays between two and three hours.

Airlines with extensive operations at East Coast airports had the worst record. United Airlines had 116 of its flights delayed on the ground more than two hours with six flights with ground delays between four and five hours.

Delta Air Lines had 117 of its flights stuck on the ground awaiting takeoff for more than 120 minutes, and US Airways experienced 118 such delays in June.

Airlines are under increasing pressure to take measures to return passengers to the terminal when takeoffs are delayed.

A Continental Express commuter jet recently sat on the ground overnight in Rochester, Minn. for six hours before passengers were allowed into a terminal.

The flight, connecting Houston to Minneapolis, had already flown for more than two hours when it was diverted to Rochester because of weather.

The tarmac wait has passenger advocates calling for federal legislation limiting such passenger captive situations.

If the state's Utilites and Transportation approves, your gas bills could be going down this winter.

Down?

Yes, Puget Sound Energy, which supplies natural gas to much of the Puget Sound area, today asked the WUTC to reduce the price it charges for gas by 17.1 percent. That decrease, effective Oct. 1, would come on top of a 1.8 percent decrease that was effective in June.

Behind the request for a decrease is a decline in the wholesale prices the utility pays its suppliers. Natural gas prices have decreased along with gasoline and crude oil prices as the worldwide economy and demand have cooled.

According to the Bellevue-based utility, an average residential customer buying 68 therms of natural gas monthly will see a $14.88 decline in their average gas bill. That's about what customers were paying for the same amount of energy in 2005 before energy prices started climbing.

In the meantime, as PSE requests a price decrease because of supply cost reductions, it is asking the commission for a 2.5 percent increase in gas rates and a 7.4 increase in electricity rates because of additional investments the company has made in its districbution infrastrucure.

Those rate increases, if approved, won't go into effect until April next year.

Tacoma Power is in the top 25 percent of utilities when it comes to customer satisfaction, the utility announced today.

Tacoma Power tied for 24th place out of 120 utilities across the nation in the annual J.D. Power Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Survey, according to a news release.

When compared to other midsized utilities in the west, Tacoma Power ranked fifth out of 12.

The J.D. Power survey measures six components:

- Power quality and reliability
- Price
- Billing and payment
- Corporate citizenship
- Communications
- Customer service

Tacoma Power has put together a team to analyze the survey results and look for opportunities to provide better services and information.

“I am pleased that we are in the top performance quartile and proud of all that our employees have done to put us there, but I know that we can do even more,” said Tacoma Public Utilities Director Bill Gaines.

Seattle-based online real estate broker Redfin launched an app for the iPhone today that lets users view homes for sale on the Multiple Listing Service.

With the Redfin app, iPhone and iPod touch users can look at homes for sale and upload photos and notes from home tours to Redfin's real estate search site.

Users can find nearby listings and open houses or search neighborhoods by name or zip code and then filter the search by property type, square footage or the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.

"Redfin's app is a home-buying app not a search app," said Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman. "What that means is that we want to make every step of the home-buying process easier, not just a consumer's initial search but when she tours the house, when she gets back to her computer to pick up the search again, when she's ready to make an offer or after her offer is in escrow."

The Redfin App is available for free from the App Store, according to the company's news release.

Currently the app only includes listings in areas of the U.S. already supported by Redfin's website:

-- Seattle area
-- San Francisco Bay Area
-- Sacramento area
-- Southern California
-- Boston area
-- Washington, DC area
-- Chicago area
-- New York's Westchester County and Long Island, excluding the Hamptons

Scott Carson, who has presided over Boeing Puget Sound-based Commercial Airplanes Group since Alan Mulallay left to head up Ford Motor Co., will retire at year's end.

The 63-year-old Carson has headed the commercial airplanes operation during some of its toughest times as the vaunted 787 Dreamliner program faltered from technical and production delays.

Carson's replacement will be Jim Albaugh, 59, the head of Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems division. Albaugh's successor is Dennis Muilenburg, 45. Muilenburg has served as head of Boeing's Integrated Defense System's Global Support unit.

Both Albaugh and Muilenburg will assume their new positions Tuesday. Carson will work with Albaugh to transition to his new job.

Carson's retirement announcement comes less than a week after Boeing announced yet another new target date for the 787's first flight. That date, late this year, will be about 2 1/2 years behind the original schedule for the plane's initial takeoff.

The game-changing 787 has been hit with both production bottlenecks at suppliers and with technical problems. Boeing last week said it would add $2.5 billion in charges for research and development for the 787 program because of the delays and re-engineering.

Boeing Chairman Jim McNerney said now was an opportune time to change leadership at Boeing's commercial airplane operation because Carson has installed strong leadership at the head of the individual aircraft programs and because the troubled 787 program has been given a fresh development timeline.

Albaugh's management hallmarks are "speed and accountability," McNerney said, and he expects those will be carried through to his new job.

Albaugh said Boeing considered a range of possibilities to replace the retiring Carson including outside candidates and manager within the commercial airplane operation, but in the end Albaugh emerged as the clear choice.

"It was clear that the best person to lead BCA was Jim Albaugh," he said.

The Boeing chairman praised Carson and his accomplishments.

"The Boeing board of directors and I appreciate Scott's long record of accomplishment across many disciplines, function and business, and the enduring contributions he has made through 38 years of service," said McNerney.

Before succeeding Mulally, Carson revived Boeing's commercial airplane sales operation. Before that, he headed up Connexion by Boeing, an airborne Internet system that never sold well to airlines.

Albaugh has headed the defense and space side of Boeing's operations since 2002. A Washington native, Albaugh is moving back to the state soon.