I think everything is loaded alphabetically now, with the in-sim reorder tool then taking effect. I’m prepared to be wrong on this 
That’s exactly what happens. When it’s created. You are not wrong. And they get stored as such in the content.xml file. As you add new packages, they get added to the end (top?) of the file.
You can use a tool to edit this file that Asobo created (I’ve never used it, so I don’t know how to access it). So, over time, the file can get really messy. They used to, and I assume still do, rebuild it at install, though I’m not sure how reliable that rebuild is. As in FSX, it can also get corrupted for one reason or another over time (CTD’s at startup? stuff like that). I don’t think they have a tool for correcting it.
Hence, I like to let it start over. Some people delete it before install to be sure it’s done properly.
I suspect that aviation uses Zulu/UTC to remove any ambiguity/misunderstanding that might otherwise arise, around the exact point in time being described, so you might reasonably expect that an organisation that aims to simulate that environment as closely as possible, would do the same.
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