David Graybill, head of the Tacoma-Pierce Chamber, introduced a new Metropolitan Development Director to chamber members at annual awards luncheon today.

Chelsea Levy grew up in Tacoma and on Vashon Island, and graduated from Charles Wright Academy. She earned a degree in sociology and anthropology at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, and later earned two master’s degrees, in urban planning and public administration, at the University of Washington.

She replaces Paul Ellis, who has moved to a development post in the Midwest.

Before applying for the chamber position, Levy worked as campaign manager for Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg, and previously served on the campaign staff of Congressman Norm Dicks, D-Belfair.

“I love Tacoma,” she said.

The job, she said, “is a great opportunity. It’s a great chance to build on the existing development.”

Continued wiring inspections of MD-80 aircraft grounded just three flights today at Sea-Tac Airport as American Airlines' MD-80 gradually returns to service.

American canceled two flights to Chicago and one flight to Dallas-Fort Worth today among the 595 flights it canceled nationwide.

The airline said it expects to cancel only 200 flight Saturday. It didn't say how many, if any, would be canceled at Sea-Tac.

Those cancellation figures are down significantly from earlier this week. American canceled more than 1,000 flight Wednesday and 933 on Thursday. On Wednesday, American grounded seven Sea-Tac flights and Alaska Airlines scrubbed a similar number.

No Alaska or Midwest airlines flights were ground today. Those two airlines' MD-80s were also grounded for wiring bundle inspections, but those two carriers have relatively few of the McDonnell Douglas twin jets in their fleets.

Alaska, for instance, has just nine MD-80s. American has 300.

The Tacoma-Pierce Chamber and Absher Construction are today presenting the annual New Tacoma Awards at a luncheon at the Tacoma Club.

The awards and winners are:

• The Ghilarducci Award, recognizing successful new development, renovation or beautification. The winner: 505 Broadway, The Sirius Group.

• The Popham Award, named for former News Tribune business columnist Art Popham, recognizing the individual who has done the most to build community spirit. The winner: Lane Alfonso of GeoEngineers.

• The Schoenfeld Award, recognizing exemplary performance and pizzazz as a retailer. The winner: Grassi’s Flowers and Gifts.

• The Union Award, recognizing leading organizations, companies or individuals that have built or sustained momentum for revitalization. The winners: A tie between India Mahal Restaurant and Eric Cederstrand of Colliers International.

• This year the Chamber is also offering a Lifetime Achievement Award – also named for Popham – to Paul Ellis, who recently left Tacoma after serving as the group’s Director of Metropolitan Development.

Boeing began final assembly work this week in Everett of the first of its new 777 Freighters.

The company expects to begin flight testing of the plane later this summer.

The 777 Freighter will fly farther and carry a greater payload than any other twin-engine freighter, Boeing claims.

The company has recorded orders for 78 of the planes. Air France, the first 777 Freighter launch customer, is expected to take delivery of the first plane late this year.

Operations are gradually returning to normal for American Airlines today after 226 of its 300 MD-80 airliners cleared inspections and returned to service by this morning.

The airline still said it intends to cancel 595 flights today. That's down from 933 Thursday, more than 1,000 on Wednesday and 440 on Tuesday.

The company said it expects to have 60 percent of its MD-80 flights operating by 2 p.m. today. The service disruptions are expected to last through Saturday night as the airline clears the last of its planes through the wiring inspection process.

American's woes began Tuesday when the Federal Aviation Administration notified it that it wanted to double check how wire bundles in the wheel wells of its MD-80s had been installed.

The wiring in some cases didn't match the technical specifications that the FAA had set.

American said the wiring issues were more ones of rigid adherence to FAA rules and were not flight safety issues. The FAA said improperly installed wiring could cause fires.

Both Alaska Airlines and Midwest Airlines said they expect all of their MD-80s to be back in service today after similar wiring inspections. Alaska has just nine of the aging MD-80 jets in its fleet of 115 planes. Those nine will be replaced by fall by new Boeing 737-800s.

Denver's Frontier Airlines filed for bankruptcy reorganization late Thursday, the fourth U.S. airline to resort to bankruptcy in the last month.

Unlike the other three, ATA, Aloha and Skybus, Frontier intends to keep operating while it reorganizes its finances.

The other three ceased operations when they couldn't find financing to continue operations.

Frontier's sudden bankruptcy was triggered by a credit card company's increasing the amount of money it held back from charges made to pay for Frontier tickets.

Under bankruptcy law, the credit card company must release those funds.

Frontier serves its Denver hub from Sea-Tac Airport. The company said it will continue normal operations with its 62-plane, all Airbus fleet. The airline's frequent flier program will be unaffected by the bankruptcy filing.

Frontier was founded in 1994. It serves destinations nationwide and in Mexico from Denver, where it competes with United.

The low-cost carrier has been under increasing pressure since Southwest Airlines launched Denver service two years ago. Like airlines worldwide, its finances have been pinched by rising fuel prices.