Midwest Airlines will stop flying Boeing 717s Nov. 3 and return them to Boeing, the company’s pilots union said today.

Midwest was one of the larger customers for Boeing’s 717. The airline is now down to nine of the jets after returning some of its fleet earlier to the manufacturer.

The end of 717 service was brought about by the airline’s purchase by Republic Airways which is replacing the Midwest Jets with Embraer 190 jets it owns and operates.

Midwest flies from Sea-Tac to Kansas City non-stop. The airline hasn’t said whether the route will be affected

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Seventy-five years of Chevrolet sales at North First Street and Division Avenue end today with the closure of Bruce Titus Chevrolet.

The dealership was among 1,100 General Motors told last spring that it wouldn’t renew their franchises in October 2010.

“Our lease was up in March, so I just decided we should take an opportunity to get out when we had a good chance,” said dealership owner Bruce Titus.

Titus sold the car repair business to his cousin Jamie Will. Will plans to open a service and tire repair business today in the former Chevrolet garage Thursday.

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Sea-Tac Airport is changing how it labels the two parking options in its multi-story terminal garage.

Instead of the present “Hourly” and “Daily”, the two different parking options will become “Terminal Direct” and “General Parking.”

Perhaps more descriptive labels would be “Expensive” and “Not Quite as Expensive.”

“Terminal Direct” parking will be on the garage’s fourth floor, the same floor as the skybridges to the terminal. “General Parking” will be on other floors of the garage where you’ll have to take an elevator or stairs to the fourth floor to reach the terminal.

The rates

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Boeing is mulling over whether to propose a new aircraft specifically designed to replace the Air Force’s fleet of 550 T-38 trainers.

That’s the word from Flight International which says the company may enter the $10 billion contest to replace the basic Air Force jet trainer with a new design.

The Air Force has expected only existing aircraft such as the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 and the Korea Aerospace Industries-Lockheed Martin T-50 to enter the contest.

The M-346 is built in Italy. The T-50 is assembled in Korea.

A contract for hundreds of trainer aircraft would keep

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The Tacoma City Council wants more time to consider whether it gives approval to an agreement that would allow construction of a new hotel on downtown Tacoma’s Thea Foss Waterway.

Council member Spiro Manthou told fellow council members at a study session at noon today that several legal questions require further study.

The council delayed consideration of an environmental indemnification agreement for the hotel two weeks ago after council member Connie Ladenburg said she wanted more information on the hotel proposal. The measure had been due to hit the council agenda tonight.

The indemnification agreement

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Restoration of Amtrak service from Seattle to Denver through Eastern Oregon, Utah and Wyoming would cost some $374 million for refurbished equipment, restoring depots and infrastructure improvements, a new study says.

The route, which Amtrak abandoned in 1997, operated as the Pioneer.

The new study says a Denver-to-Seattle route via Tacoma would attract 111,000 passengers and incur an operating loss of $33.1 million annually. A route that reached only Salt Lake City from Seattle would have a loss of $25 million a year.

Idaho and Oregon politicians have been lobbying for restoration of the service which was

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TUI Travel is negotiating to cancel 10 of the 23 orders it has secured with Boeing for the company’s 787 Dreamliner, Flightglobal.com reported today.

The European tour operator, however, will add purchase rights for an additional 13 of the twin-engine aircraft.

The company said in an update Tuesday: “We have been in extensive discussions with Boeing, and it is the intention of both parties to agree to cancel 10 of the 23 787 aircraft that we had on order.”

The 787 is more than two years late making its first flight because of production, design and labor

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Tentative plans released today in permit filings in South Carolina show Boeing wants to clear some 80 acres of forest land to build a 720,000-square-foot assembly plant in Charleston.

The plant presumably would be the second assembly site for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.

Boeing says it is filing for the permits to get a head start on plant construction if it decides on Charleston for the second assembly line for the Dreamliner.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire Monday released a new report enumerating reasons why that second assembly line should be built in Everett or Moses Lake.

Boeing’s

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