The number of people employed by U.S. airlines declined by 2.7 percent in March, according to statistics released on Thursday by the Department of Transportation (DOT).

The most recent figures available show that 380,325 people were employed by airlines in March 2013, compared to 390,761 in March of last year.

The number of employs was largely stagnant between March and February 2013, going from 380,159 in February to March's 380,325 figure. 

Images taken by the old machines had been heavily criticized as an invasion of privacy.

Outgoing Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Wednesday praised officials in Florida and Hawaii for passing laws to ban texting-while-driving.

LaHood has waged a vocal campaign against distracted driving during his tenure at the Department of Transportation (DOT), and noted that more than 40 states now have prohibitions against texting behind the wheel.

"I commend Gov. [Neil] Abercrombie [D] and the Hawaii legislature for taking an important stand against the danger of distracted driving," LaHood said in a statement.

"With Florida's new anti-texting law, we are one step closer toward our goal of encouraging all 50 states to pass distracted driving legislation.”

A Democratic member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is calling for Congress to hold a hearing on bridge safety after they return from recess next week.

The request, from Rep. Janice Hahn (D-Calif.), follows a pair of recent high-profile accidents involving bridge collapses.

Hahn said in a letter to House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) that the panel should make bridge safety a priority because many of other existing structures in the U.S. are presently at risk of collapse.   

"As you know, last week, a truck carrying an oversize load crashed into a section of the Interstate 5 bridge in Washington State – a bridge that was classified by the Department of Transportation as structurally obsolete – causing it to collapse," Hahn wrote in reference to an accident last week that resulted in cars falling into the Skagit River.

"We are lucky that there were not any fatalities," Hahn continued. "With over 70,000 bridges that have been classified as “structurally deficient” nation-wide, it is clear we have an infrastructure crisis in this country and it is only a matter of time before another bridge collapses and lives could be lost."

General Motors (GM) is shifting personnel is its Washington, D.C., lobbying office, the company announced on Thursday.

GM said it was appointing Victoria Barnes to be its new executive director of federal affairs.

Barnes had previously been serving as director of legislative and regulatory affairs and taxes at GM. 

The operator of a freight train that derailed on Tuesday and caused explosions said the train was carrying a chemical that is classified as a hazardous material.

CSX, which was operating the train before it crashed Tuesday in a Baltimore suburb, said the material was being transported in at least one of the cars that were on the train that left the tracks.

"It appears that about a dozen rail cars are involved, including at least one rail car containing a material classified by U.S. Department of Transportation as a hazardous material," the company said in a statement. "That is sodium chlorate, an oxidizer used in a variety of industrial processes." 

More than 100 members of Congress are pressing regulators to allow American Airlines and U.S. Airways to keep their airport slots at Reagan National Airport, Reuters reports.

Regulators are investigating big banks over practices used to collect on delinquent credit card debt, according to The Washington Post.

President Obama’s push to seat three judges at once on one of the nation’s most influential benches holds major implications for the administration’s regulatory agenda, RegWatch reports.

The United States signed an Open Skies air transport agreement with Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, allowing for unrestricted air travel between the two countries.

After a transition period, the agreement will allow for “unrestricted air service by the airlines of both countries between and beyond the other’s territory, eliminating restrictions on how often the carriers fly, the kind of aircraft they use and the prices they charge,” according to the State Department. The goal is to strengthen and expand trade and tourism links with Saudi Arabia, “benefitting U.S. and Saudi Arabian businesses and travelers by expanding opportunities for air services and encouraging vigorous price competition by airlines, while preserving our commitments to aviation safety and security.”

The agreement was signed by U.S. Ambassador James Smith and Saudi Arabia’s deputy director of the General Authority of Civil Aviation, Faisal bin Hamad Al-Sugair. The United States has more than 100 Open Skies agreements with partners around the world and at all levels of development.

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The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Tuesday that it was monitoring developments about a freight rail train derailment that has reportedly caused explosions and building collapses.

A freight train being operated by CSX derailed Tuesday afternoon in the Baltimore suburb of White Marsh, according to reports.

The Baltimore Sun reported that the train crash was followed by "a loud explosion and sent a plume of white smoke into the sky that could be seen clearly from downtown Baltimore."