Business in brief: Southwest adds flight to Denver

Southwest Airlines will add a nonstop flight from Spokane to Denver starting Jan. 10, the airline announced Thursday.

Tickets for that flight go on sale today, a company press release said. The scheduled flight leaves Spokane at 6:50 a.m. The return from Denver leaves at 7:45 p.m. Mountain time.

At present two other airlines, United and Frontier, offer nonstop flights from Spokane to Denver.

Boeing workers drop union

Charleston, S.C. – Workers at a South Carolina Boeing Co. plant voted Thursday against continued representation by a union as the company considers the site for a second assembly line for its new 787 wide-body jetliner.

Workers at the North Charleston plant, which makes fuselage sections for the 787, voted 199-68 Thursday against continued representation by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

Anyone who wants to challenge the vote has seven days to file an objection before the results are certified, Boeing spokeswoman Candy Eslinger said.

The workers, by a slim margin, voted for union representation when the plant was owned by Vought Aircraft Industries. Boeing last month bought the plant from Vought for $580 million plus about $420 million in debt forgiveness,

Mortgage rates remain low

Washington – Rates for 30-year home loans ticked down for the second straight week, remaining close to record lows reached over the spring.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 5.07 percent this week, down from 5.08 percent a week earlier, mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday. Rates fell to a record low of 4.78 percent in the spring.

Rates should stay low for another month or two as government efforts to keep them low remain effective, predicts Michael Larson, an interest rate and real estate analyst with Weiss Research.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 4.5 percent, from 4.54 percent last week, according to Freddie Mac.

Iconic restaurant files for Chapter 11

New York – Tavern on the Green, the landmark restaurant in New York City’s Central Park, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The filing comes just four months before the 75-year-old restaurant is to hand over its license to another operator.

Tavern chief executive Jennifer Oz LeRoy blamed the filing on the financial crisis and New York City’s decision to give the Tavern license to a new operator. The new license was granted to Dean J. Poll, who runs the Central Park Boathouse restaurant.