Unalaska landings top all-time seafood record

UNALASKA -- Unalaska has set a new national record for seafood landings, according to city natural resources analyst Frank Kelty.

The port took in 908 million pounds of seafood in 2002, Kelty said.

Kelty said the old record was set mostly with tuna. Unalaska's record was established mostly with pollock and other groundfish.

The Aleutian Islands port has led the nation in total pounds of seafood landed for the past 13 years.

Unalaska is a city of more than 4,000 that overlooks Iliuliuk Bay and Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island about 800 air miles southwest of Anchorage.

Borough gauges interest in Hatcher Pass resort

ANCHORAGE -- Matanuska-Susitna Borough officials say the time is finally right for a four-season Hatcher Pass resort, and they're taking their message nationwide.

The borough will run ads in a broad range of national publications, including the Wall Street Journal, to gauge developers' interest in a resort that includes homes, cabins, and condominiums and possibly a convention center.

A ski resort at Hatcher Pass has been a dream for at least 20 years. Three resort developers have tried and failed, apparently stymied by high costs, environmental concerns and uncertain consumer demand.

Officials again say they're ready.

"Everything's in place," said Borough Mayor Tim Anderson. "If it's going to happen, it's going to happen now."

Among other things, the borough has gained control of the land, the local population has increased and access has improved.

This time around, talk has turned to making a resort that banks on tourists in summer and skiers in winter, but also benefits local residents.

NATION

Feds rule out criminal charges in crash probe

SEATTLE -- Alaska Airlines will not face criminal charges over the crash of Flight 261 in 2000, federal investigators have decided.

The decision was revealed Aug. 11 in a quarterly filing by corporate parent Alaska Air Group Inc. with the Securities and Exchange Commission and was confirmed by a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco.

"In July 2003, the U.S. attorney's office informed Alaska that, after a review of all of the relevant information, it has concluded that the evidence does not warrant the filing of criminal charges and it has closed its investigation into the Flight 261 accident," the filing stated.

An aide to Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Jacobs confirmed the decision to The Seattle Times but would not elaborate.

The investigation stems from the crash of an Alaska Airlines MD-83 in the Pacific Ocean off Port Hueneme, Calif., on Jan. 31, 2000, on a flight from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to San Francisco and Seattle. All 88 people aboard died.

WORLD

Aviation group predicts global air travel increase

Global airline passenger traffic will stabilize this year before rebounding 4.4 percent next year and 6.3 percent in 2005, according to the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization.

The ICAO cited a gradual restoration of passenger confidence, improved security and its application, an improving global economy and a stable operating environment as the forces behind its forecast.

"Traffic development of both North American and European carriers is stabilizing, with an expected zero growth in 2003 before recovery gets fully under way in 2004 and 2005," the organization said.

ICAO figures show that the average annual increase in passenger miles performed, or PMP, was 4.7 per cent between 1991 and 2001. Passenger traffic fell 2.9 percent in 2001.

A slowing world economy, the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the war in Iraq and severe acute respiratory syndrome all contributed to an airline industry free-fall over the past two years, said the organization, which represents some 188 member states.

-- Compiled from business wire services.