BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)

TRANSPORTATION

Ford sets plant closing timetable

The world's No. 2 automaker plans to close 3 U.S. plants over 6 months and a 4th by '07 under the contract signed last week with the United Auto Workers union. The contract will let Ford meet its turnaround plan to cut North American capacity by 1 mil vehicles, as well as about 12,000 hourly jobs.

Air traffic up as fares keep falling

Continental's domestic traffic rose 2.7% in Sept. vs. last year, while trans-Atlantic traffic rose 3.4%. Southwest's traffic rose 10.6%. American's traffic fell 1.7%, but its load factor rose to 66.7% on capacity cuts. Carriers benefited from a busy summer travel season, but some fear they'll have to cut prices to keep people flying into winter.

Hybrids getting cheaper to make

So says Toyota, whose Prius gas-electric car is now made alongside four other mass-production sedans. That's a big step toward getting the per-vehicle costs down and boosting popularity of the vehicles, further driving down costs. Toyota aims to sell 300,000 a year by '05 and offer hybrid options for all models. ...