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FAIRBANKS -- Lufthansa has retired its Boeing 747 cargo run out of Fairbanks. The jet lifted off Dec. 27 for the last time.
Lufthansa's management decided to pull the 747s from the Germany-Fairbanks-Japan run and instead use only smaller MD-11 jets for its 16 weekly flights. Lufthansa's 747s didn't carry freight efficiently enough to pay for their use.
The MD-11s will make the same runs, but with a slightly less cargo space than the 747s, said Wolfgang Kobitz, Lufthansa's district manager.
"Smaller, but not so expensive," Kobitz said.
Lufthansa decided to switch from Anchorage to Fairbanks 12 years ago to save a few minutes of flight time. Those few minutes translates into big money in the airfreight business.
Dave Carlstrom, who serves as airport marketing director for the Fairbanks Economic Development Corp., said at least Lufthansa hasn't left the airport altogether. He hopes to bring more air freight companies to Fairbanks.
WASHINGTON -- A federal agency is looking for applicants interested in taking advantage of nearly $15 million in grants to help with high energy costs.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the money is being distributed through its Rural Utilities Service.
Many remote Alaska communities would be eligible for the grant funds, said Allan Yost, the service's Alaska field representative.
To qualify, a community's average residential expenditure for home energy must be over 275 percent of the national average. Homeowners must pay at least 22.9 cents per kilowatt hour or more than $2.62 per gallon for fuel oil.
Those who can apply include states, political subdivisions of states and other state-organized entities. Federally recognized Indian tribes and tribal entities also can apply.
The available funds can be used to acquire, build, extend, upgrade or improve energy services.
The deadline to apply is Feb. 7.
NATION
NEW YORK -- Sales of previously owned homes fell by 3.5 percent in November, but even with the decline sales racked up the sixth highest monthly level on record and are on track for the best-ever year for all of 2002.
Existing-home sales slipped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.56 million in November, the National Association of Realtors reported Dec. 30. The 3.5 percent decline followed a brisk 5.9 percent sales increase in October.
Even with the drop in November, sales are running 5.9 percent higher than for the same month last year.
The housing market performed extremely well during the recession and has been doing well this year, thanks to low mortgage rates.
Sales of both existing homes and new homes are expected to register their best year in 2002, surpassing previous records set in 2001, economists said.
WORLD
BEIJING -- China on Dec. 29 broke its massive state power company into 11 smaller firms in a move to encourage greater competition, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
The dismantled State Power Corporation will spin off its power generating assets to five smaller companies, each controlling less than 20 percent of the country's electricity generating capacity, Xinhua said. Two other companies will operate power grids and four companies will handle peripheral business operations, the report said.
The five electricity generators will be forced to compete for contracts with the grid operators, State Power Grid and Southern Power Grid, according to State Power Corporation's Web site.
The corporation had controlled 46 percent of China's power generation assets and virtually the entire power transmission grid. Formed in 1997 from the commercial arm of the now-abolished Ministry of Electric Power, it owned about $145 billion in assets.
-- Compiled from business wire services.
