A stronger-than-expected air travel business boosted Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to a new record for passengers served last year, the airport announced this week.

The airport served some 32.8 million passengers, a four percent increase over last year. The number surpassed the previous record set in 2008 when the recession had yet to make its full effect felt. The Port of Seattle, Sea-Tac’s owner, had forecast a one percent increase for the year.

Of those 32.8 million passengers, three million arrived or departed on international flight. That’s the most in the airport’s history. Sea-Tac has added several new international airlines

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Given a strong net profit for the fourth quarter and for all of 2011, the board at Tacoma-based Columbia Bank has announced a quarterly cash dividend of 8 cents per share plus a special cash dividend of 29 cents per share.

The numbers, released early Thursday:
• Net income for the quarter at $14.8 million, an increase of 17 percent compared to $12.6 million for the fourth quarter in 2010.
• Quarterly per-share income of 37 cents, up 16 percent from 32 cents the year before.
• Annual net income of $48 million, up 86 percent from

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Last weeks’s snow and ice storm cost Sea-Tac Airport’s biggest airline some $3.5 million, Alaska Airlines officials said in a fourth-quarter earnings call today.

Those costs were split between fares that were refunded because flights were cancelled and extra costs of coping with the ice.

The airline cancelled 33 percent of its flights late last week as ice coated planes and runways in the Pacific Northwest. A snow storm was followed by freezing rain which coated aircraft at Sea-Tac with a thick layer of ice which had to be removed before planes could depart.

Some 45,000 Alaska passengers were inconvenienced

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Fuller planes, better scheduling and route expansion helped SeaTac-based Alaska Air Group report record earnings today for the second consecutive year.

Alaska, parent company of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, says its net income for 2011 excluding special items totaled $287.4 million or $7.83 a share. That was higher than 2010′s record profits of $262.6 million or $7.14 a share.

“The improvment was due to schedule optimization and network expansion, high load factors, lower non-fuel costs and industry-leading customer service and operational performance,” said Alaska Air Group Chairman Bill Ayer.

While the airline holding company’s full-year results were higher than

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The second annual celebration of shopping locally happens Monday.

Tacoma Shift Happens, an initiative by business alliance GoLocal, is an attempt to get people to shift 10 percent of their spending from national chains to a locally owned businesses.

The event is open to the public, and everyone is invited.

Tacoma Shift Happens 2012 starts at 4 p.m. with a happy hour featuring a cash bar and more than 20 local food vendors, according to the event’s website. That leads into the featured proram, including the Mayoral State of the City address, followed by a showcase of

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Boeing’s better-than-expected profits will mean fatter paychecks for the majority of Boeing’s Puget Sound workforce next month.

The company’s 2011 net income jumped by 21 percent, Boeing reported today.

The company’s Employee Incentive Plan will pay non-executive and non-Machinists Union members either 15 or 16 days of extra pay in their mid-February paychecks, the company announced in an internal memo today. About 109,000 employees company-wide will receive those bonuses. In the Puget Sound area, 48,497 workers will see the bonus in their paychecks on Feb. 16.

For a Boeing engineer making $100,000 a year, that means a one-time

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The Port of Tacoma’s dominant business eked out an increase last year, new statistics show, but that business volume remains far below its pre-recession highs.

The port’s terminals handled 1,488,799 cargo container units last year, figures released by the port this week show. That’s 2.3 percent above the 1,455,466 the port saw in 2010.

The port’s container business had fallen every year since 2006, when the port handled 2,067,185 container units. The business bottomed out in 2010.

The port’s higher container volume still falls substantially short of that of its Puget Sound rival, the Port of Seattle. Seattle

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Europe’s third largest discount airline, Norwegian Air Shuttle, announced orders and commitments for 222 aircraft worth $22 billion from Boeing and its European rival, Airbus.

The airline signed firm orders for 100 of Boeing’s new 737 Max aircraft and 22 orders for existing generation 737-800 airliners. The airline said it had signed a memorandum of understanding to purchase 100 Airbus A320neos.

The 737 Max and A320neo are the latest versions of each aircraft maker’s single-aisle aircraft, the 737 and A320 updated with new engines and aerodynamic improvements. The first A320neo is due for delivery in 2015. The 737 Max is

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