American Airlines reduces senior leadership by 20 percent

American Airlines announced on Tuesday the third phase of its organization redesign since the company filed for bankruptcy in November.

The multi-phased reorganization is part of the company's commitment to reduce total costs and put the customers' experience at the heart of American's operation. This phase included the elimination of five officer positions. Combined with the previous organizational changes, Tuesday's announcement represents a 20 percent reduction in the company's most senior leadership positions.

“We must get leaner and more streamlined,," said Tom Horton, AMR Corp. chairman and chief executive officer. American Airlines is a wholly-owned subsidiary of AMR. "Our organization redesign purposefully began at the top, and today's changes will further advance the company's restructuring objectives and bring us one step closer to ensuring American has the leanest, most capable and effective leadership team in the industry."

“American is rethinking every aspect of its business - painting a clear picture of the company's team for the new American, designed to work together differently, with greater efficiently, and with an innovative and relentless focus on the customer,” the company said in a press statement on Tuesday. “All employee groups are reducing costs by 20 percent, and will continue throughout the summer.”

The following officers have announced their retirement:

David Brooks has served as American's President - Cargo for almost 16 years, and has been with American for almost 30 years.

Mark DuPont is another veteran of the company. During his 29-year career with American, he has held key leadership positions in Chicago, Orange County, Los Angeles, New York and the Dallas/Fort Worth headquarters office.

Susan Garcia has served as American's Vice President - Information Technology for 10 years, and has been with American for almost 25.

Andrew Watson has served in American's Technology organization for more than 10 years, including his most recent position as American's Vice President - Customer Technology.

In addition, the position of Vice President - Operations Finance and Strategy Planning has been eliminated. Doug Herring, who previously held that position, will be working on special projects through the end of the year.

American Airlines, American Eagle and the AmericanConnection carrier serve 260 airports in more than 50 countries and territories with, on average, more than 3,300 daily flights. The combined network fleet numbers more than 900 aircraft.

Lufthansa 747-8 Intercontinental Frankfurt to Washington service in June

On Tuesday, Boeing and Deutsche Lufthansa AG celebrated the flyaway of the first 747-8 Intercontinental delivered to an airline.

Boeing and Lufthansa employees joined leaders from both companies, media and suppliers for a delivery ceremony at the Future of Flight Aviation Center beside Paine Field airport in Everett, Wash.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, Carsten Spohr, chairman of the executive board and CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa; Nico Buchholz, executive vice president, Group Fleet Management, Lufthansa; and Elizabeth Lund, Boeing vice president and general manager, 747 Program, boarded the airplane with about 30 passengers and crew for the flight taking the airplane from Everett to Lufthansa's home base at Frankfurt, Germany.

When the airplane lands at Frankfurt, Lufthansa will host a special celebration. The airplane will begin regular revenue service June 1 on a flight from Frankfurt to Washington, D.C.

The 747-8 Intercontinental will bring double-digit improvements in fuel burn and emissions over its predecessor, the 747-400, while generating 30 percent less noise. It is powered by GE Aviation's GEnx-2B engines.

Solar eclipse visible from California to Texas

View sunspots and a solar eclipse through solar-safe telescopes this month.

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New gaming casino opens in Maryland June 6

A new $500 million gaming and entertainment casino located at the Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover, Md. will open June 6 at 10 p.m. EDT.

Located in Anne Arundel County, the first phase of Maryland Live! Casino will open with approximately 3,200 Las Vegas-style slot machines and electronic table games, including Blackjack, Roulette, Mini-Baccarat, and Pai Gow Poker.

In advance of the opening celebration, Maryland Live! Casino has a play-for-fun online casino, Myliveonlinecasino.com, a free website that allows gaming enthusiasts to play their favorite slots games, win virtual credits, compete in online tournaments, and sign-up early for the Live! Rewards players card.

A lineup of nationally-acclaimed restaurant brands, such as Bobby's Burger Palace, from celebrated chef Bobby Flay, The Cheesecake Factory and Baltimore-based Phillips Seafood will join Market Buffet and Noodles, an Asian wok and noodle bar, to offer a variety of irresistible dining options.

Upon completion, the full facility will represent the third largest commercial casino in the United States.

The project broke ground in January 2011. Upon completion, the property will employ approximately 1,500 employees; generate $400 million in tax revenue per year to support local schools, making it the single largest annual and ongoing source of revenue for Maryland's children; and generate $60 million in annual spending on goods and services, all benefiting the local economy.

The casino will be open Sunday through Thursday from 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 a.m.; and Friday and Saturday from 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 a.m. Casino guests must be 21 years of age.

Dallas/Fort Worth bids farewell to US military charter flights

More than one hundred employees and volunteers at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport bid farewell to the final departing U.S. military charter flight on Friday, bringing an end to eight years of scheduled rest and recuperation (R&R) flights at the airport. The flight departed from DFW with a shower of affection water cannon salute from DFW Airport Department of Public Safety fire trucks. With the final flight now airborne, the U.S. Army will close its Personnel Assistance Point (PAP) at DFW Airport, which had processed soldiers and worked with airport-based volunteer groups over the past eight years.

The start of R&R charter flights at DFW for a trial run in late 2003 prompted a grass roots volunteer greeter program known as "Welcome Home A Hero" to welcome each incoming soldier at DFW. That effort helped convince the Army to move the charter flights to DFW on a semi-permanent basis in 2004.

Over the life of the program, "Welcome Home A Hero" program volunteers greeted over 460,000 inbound soldiers transiting through DFW on their way home for two weeks of rest and recuperation from active duty in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Hundreds of local organizations and more than 10,000 individual volunteers greeted soldiers from a total of 2,700 incoming flights.

In January, the U.S. Army Human Resources Command announced it would end the daily R&R charters into DFW and close its PAP at DFW airport, consolidating flights into Atlanta-Hartsfield Jackson International Airport as military deployment reductions continue overseas. The final arrival into DFW took place two weeks ago on March 14.

“We know it's good news that the Army charter flights are being reduced, because it means fewer of our nation's troops are in harm's way,” said Jeff Fegan, CEO of DFW International Airport.

The USO facility at DFW airport will remain in operation serving troops. DFW expects about 100,000 individual troops annually will transit through the airport on their travels between the United States and the Middle East.

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Back to the drawing board for NASA

U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison told NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to go back to the drawing board so the agency will meet its goal of developing a new spacecraft that will go to the space station within a couple of years.

Hutchison made the remarks on Wednesday during a Congressional hearing on NASA’s fiscal year 2013 budget request. She is the Ranking Member of the Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

“I am concerned about the budget that the Administrator is putting forward today,” Hutchison said. “NASA's priorities as we all agreed to in a meeting in my office just a few months ago were, number one, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).”

James Webb Space Telescope

NASA's successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, and the agency’s largest science project—JWST—however, has experienced development cost growth of $3.6 billion—or 140 percent—and a schedule delay of over four years, according to a report released this month from the Government Accountability Office.

“It has been thoroughly reviewed and appropriately funded,” Hutchison said. “It is a priority which is funded as anticipated.”

The second priority is the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion capsule.

Space Launch System and Orion

These two systems would send astronauts on deep space missions beyond low Earth orbit. SLS and Orion were studied inside and outside of NASA, and again, independently, before finally being allowed to move forward, Hutchinson said.

“The resulting independent analysis said the budget assumed in that analysis for the first three to five years, which was what we had agreed would be the amount, was accurate and provided what was needed to maintain schedule,” she said. “So of course I was surprised when I got the call that NASA was going to cut this part of the budget by $174 million (Orion). This is a case where NASA has chosen to say it's a priority but has deliberately cut the funding that was assumed to assure that it could maintain its schedule. This is of course a great concern to me and to the members of congress who agreed with these priorities and thought we had the agreement from NASA.”

Hutchinson said, “NASA claims its priorities but what is said and what is being proposed don't really match.”

Number three, the final priority is the Commercial Crew Program (CCP).

Commercial Crew Program

The goal of CCP is to develop a new commercial crew space transportation capability that will carry astronauts to the International Space Station in low Earth orbit.

CCP received a proposed increase of 104 percent over last year in the budget request. This is being asked for without any type of independent cost verification for the program, and at $830 million, exceeds the authorized amount for CCP by $330 million.

“I do support commercial crew,” Hutchinson said. “However, I think NASA is continuing to throw money at too many companies with a hope of flying astronauts and not doing what it has done, which is to undertake a study for the commercial crew similar to what you've done with Orion and SLS, including an independent analysis of options and then funding the programs that NASA believes have the most hope of gaining what we all want, which is the quickest American provided commercial crew vehicle to the space station as possible.”

“So I hope NASA will go back to the drawing board and support commercial crew in a fiscally responsible way so that we can all, once again, be on the same page for our goals, which is a commercial crew vehicle that will go to the space station within a couple of years,” Hutchinson said.

Five science rockets wait for weather to clear

NASA has rescheduled the launch of five suborbital sounding rockets from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to Monday night with liftoff set between midnight and 5 a.m. EDT.

The rockets are part of the Anomalous Transport Rocket Experiment, a mission that will gather information needed to better understand the process responsible for the high-altitude jet stream located 60 to 65 miles above the surface of the Earth.

As part the mission, the five rockets will release a chemical tracer that will form milky, white clouds that allow scientists and the public to "see" the winds in space.  These clouds may be visible for up to 20 minutes by residents from South Carolina to southern New Hampshire and Vermont.