'Captain' Travolta pilots goodwill for Qantas

Truth is stranger than pulp fiction, wrote Everett (Wash.) Herald business columnist Bryan Corliss when covering Qantas' June announcement that it had hired actor John Travolta as its flying "Ambassador-at-Large." Travolta will conduct the worldwide "Spirit of Friendship" tour — which kicked off in July and flies through late August — in his private Boeing 707, which is painted in the Australian carrier's original 1960s livery for the trip. The tour involves about 80 flying hours and covers more than 35,000 nautical miles, the airline said.

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Pickering honored as diplomacy legend

Tom Pickering, Boeing senior vice president of International Relations, received the American Foreign Service Association’s highest award for "Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy" last month. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell presented the award at a State Department ceremony. Before joining Boeing in January 2001, Pickering had served as an ambassador to six countries and the United Nations in a Foreign Service career that spanned several decades. Powell described Pickering as "someone who serves, someone who always answers the call, (and) someone who has no interest in self, no interest other than serving his nation, serving those around him, serving the cause of freedom and democracy around the world." Past recipients of the award include U.S. President George H.W. Bush, and former U.S. Secretaries of State Cyrus Vance and Lawrence Eagleburger.