US Airways

US Airways is an airline based in Tempe, Arizona, owned by US Airways Group, Inc.. As of May 2006, the combined airline is the fifth largest airline in the United States and has a fleet of 358 mainline jet aircraft and 295 express aircraft connecting 237 destinations in North America, Central America, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and Europe.

The airline was acquired by America West Holdings Corporation in late 2005. Operations are expected to be fully integrated with America West Airlines by 2007 after government approval allowing the airlines to operate under a single operating certificate.

US Airways operates hubs in Charlotte and Philadelphia. Merger partner America West Airlines operates hubs at Phoenix and Las Vegas. Additionally, US Airways has a secondary hub at Pittsburgh and focus city operations at New York LaGuardia, Washington Reagan, Boston, and Fort Lauderdale. The airline operates the US Airways Shuttle, a US Airways brand which provides hourly service between key Northeastern markets. Regional airline service is branded as US Airways Express, operated by contract and subsidiary airline companies.

History

Early years

US Airways traces its history to All American Aviation Company, a company founded by du Pont family brothers Richard C. du Pont (1911-1943) and Alexis Felix du Pont, Jr. (1905-1996). Hubbed in Pittsburgh, the airline served the Ohio River valley in 1939. In 1949, the company was renamed All American Airways as it switched from airmail to passenger service. The company was again renamed, to Allegheny Airlines, in 1952.

Allegheny expanded progressively, introducing the Douglas DC-9 in 1966 and absorbing Lake Central Airlines in 1968 and Mohawk Airlines in 1972 to become one of the largest carriers in the northeastern United States.

Allegheny's agreement with Henson Airlines, the forerunner to today's US Airways Express carrier Piedmont Airlines, to provide service under the Allegheny Commuter banner, is generally regarded as the industry's first code-share agreement, a type of service now routinely offered throughout the industry.

The birth of USAir

Allegheny changed its name to USAir in 1979 following the passage of the Airline Deregulation Act the previous year, which allowed the airline to expand its route network to the southern United States. In the early 1980s, its routes in the Northeast were fed by Ransome Airlines, among others. It was at this time with a new corporate name that the company moved from Pittsburgh to suburban Washington, D.C., though it would keep Pittsburgh as its main hub for another two decades.

USAir was the launch customer for the Boeing 737-300, as the airline needed an aircraft with greater capacity to serve its rapidly-growing Florida markets. USAir was the world's largest operator of DC-9 aircraft and approached McDonnell Douglas for a new airplane. However, in the late 1970's, the company was not interested in developing a new variant of the DC-9-50. After negotiations with McDonnell Douglas broke down, Boeing stepped forward with a proposed variant of the 737. USAir chose this aircraft and the company worked closely with Boeing during its development, receiving the first plane on November 28, 1984.

1980s: Mergers and expansion

USAir expanded dramatically in 1987, when it purchased San Diego-based Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) and Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Piedmont Airlines. The mergers gave the airline hubs in Baltimore and Charlotte, as well as routes to the West Coast, and Piedmont's transatlantic service to London Gatwick Airport. When the Piedmont acquisition was completed in 1989, it became the largest merger in airline history.

In the early 1990s, USAir expanded its service to Europe with new flights to London, Paris, and Frankfurt from its three main hubs. The company formed new partnerships, marketing the Trump Shuttle as the "USAir Shuttle" and accepted a large investment from British Airways that started one of the first transatlantic airline alliances. It also invested heavily in a new, state-of-the-art terminal at its hub at Pittsburgh.

1990s: Rebranding, fleet modernization, and a failed sell-out

In 1996, USAir closed its relationship with British Airways and announced its re-branding as US Airways. It expanded its flights to Europe through the end of the decade, and bought out the remains of Trump Shuttle in 1998. That same year it introduced a single-class service known as MetroJet, which attempted to compete with low-cost carriers expanding into the East, in particular Southwest Airlines.

On November 6, 1996, just following the re-branding to US Airways, US Airways placed an order for up to 400 Airbus A320-series narrowbody aircraft, with 120 firm orders at the time of the order signing. At the time, it was regarded as the largest single aircraft order in history. In 1998, the airline followed with an order for up to 30 Airbus A330-series or A340-series widebody aircraft, with an initial firm order for 7 A330-300 aircraft. These orders accomplished two goals: 1) they allowed US Airways to replace older aircraft with newer, more efficient aircraft; and 2) helped with the re-branding and repositioning of US Airways as the "Global Carrier of Choice".

Although the airline had returned to profitability in the mid-1990s, its route network's concentration in the U.S. Northeast and high operating costs prompted calls to merge with another airline. On May 24, 2000 US Airways announced plans to be acquired for $4.3 billion by UAL, the parent company of United Airlines, the world's largest commercial carrier at the time. The complex deal drew immediate objections from labor unions, consumer advocates, and antitrust regulators. Negotiations stalled; with both airlines losing money and the deal all but certain to be blocked by the federal government, UAL withdrew its purchase offer on July 27, 2001, paying US Airways a $50 million penalty for withdrawing from the deal.

Beginning in 2000, US Airways started retiring several aircraft types in an attempt to simplify its fleet to lower costs. These aircraft types were replaced by new A-320 aircraft.

2001-2004: 9/11, financial woes, contraction

As the largest carrier at Washington-Reagan, US Airways was disproportionately impacted by that airport's extended closure following the September 11 terrorist attacks. The resulting financial disaster precipitated the closure of the airline's MetroJet subsidiary, the de-hubbing of Baltimore-Washington International Airport, and the furloughing of thousands of employees. The airline entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy on August 11, 2002. The company received a government-guaranteed loan through the Air Transportation Stabilization Board and was able to exit bankruptcy after a relatively short period. On October 19, 2005, the loan was repaid when the debt was refinanced with other lenders.

Following an initial trial run of selling in-flight food in 2003, US Airways discontinued complimentary meal service on domestic flights. Bistro sandwiches and salads are now available for purchase on board most flights of over 700 miles (1126 km).

In an attempt to stem further financial losses, in early 2004 US Airways officially de-hubbed Pittsburgh International Airport, and began a process of de-emphasizing its hub-and-spoke system to capitalize on direct flights between major eastern airports such as Washington-Reagan, New York-LaGuardia, and Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood. This emphasis on more direct flights has been undertaken by many airlines of late, as an attempt to capitalize on the highest-profit routes, and is modeled after Southwest Airlines' system, one which most U.S. airlines used until the mid-1980s.

The airline became the 15th member of the Star Alliance on May 4, 2004.

However, high fuel costs and deadlocked negotiations with organized labor (chiefly the Air Line Pilots Association, who were traditionally the first group to come to a concessionary agreement) forced US Airways into a second round of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection proceedings, on September 12, 2004. Widespread employee discontent and irregularly high sick calls were blamed by the airline for a staff shortage around the 2004 Christmas holiday, a public relations disaster which led to speculation that the airline could be liquidated; the DOT, however, found that the problems were caused mainly due to poor planning by management.

2005: Acquisition by America West

On May 19, 2005, US Airways Group announced that it would merge with Arizona-based America West Holdings Corporation (parent company of America West Airlines), whose strength in the West would complement US Airways' routes in the Northeast, Europe, and the Caribbean. The new entity retains the US Airways name due to its non-regional emphasis, as well as its greater worldwide brand recognition, its Dividend Miles frequent flyer program, and its participation in the Star Alliance.

Largely an acquisition versus a merger, the new US Airways is headquartered at the former America West corporate offices in Tempe, Arizona, and America West executives and board members are largely in control of the merged company. The acquisition by America West Airlines will include consolidating all aircraft under the US Airways certificate, is scheduled to be completed in 2007, approximately 18-24 months following the merger of the holding companies in 2005. For the initial merger announcement, click here. Also, see: Merger with US Airways Group for additional information.

On September 13, 2005, America West's shareholders voted to approve the merger agreement with 95.5 percent of shareholders approving the transaction.

On September 16, 2005, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia approved US Airways' Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization, clearing the way for the merger to be closed on September 27, 2005, in conjunction with US Airways Group's emergence from bankruptcy.

On September 27, 2005, the merger of the two holding companies was completed. The combined airline has branded itself as the "World's Largest Low-Fare Airline". In January of 2006, the airline began consolidating its operations under the US Airways brand.

Beginning January, 2006, all America West flights are branded as US Airways.

On February 9, 2006, US Airways became the first American "legacy" carrier to add the Embraer 190 to its mainline fleet.

In May 2006, the US Airways and America West web sites were merged. The new US Airways web site unites the two brands using graphics and styles reflective of the airline's new livery and services.

Destinations

US Airways' routes are heavily concentrated in the eastern United States and Caribbean, with a number of routes to Europe and several destinations on the west coast. Their west coast presence has increased dramatically following the merger with America West Airlines. US Airways Express carriers operate a number of routes, primarily into US Airways' hubs and focus cities, but with a few exceptions, in particular where smaller US Airways Express carriers operate service under the EAS program, and also some point-to-point routes in the northeast and Carolinas.

Fleet

US Airways flies a fleet of twinjets, divided between mostly newer Airbus aircraft and generally older Boeing aircraft. As of June, 2006, its fleet includes:

**US Airways Fleet**
Type	Number	Seats	Seats First-Envoy/Coach	Orders/Options
Airbus A319	54	120	12/108	Yes
Airbus A320-200	20	142	16/126	Yes
Airbus A321-200	28	169	26/143	Yes
Airbus A330-300	9	266	42/224	Yes
Airbus A350-800	0	>266	na	20
Boeing 737-300	31	126	12/114	No
Boeing 737-400	40	144	12/132	No
Boeing 757-200	33	193	8/185	No
Boeing 767-200ER	10	203	24/179	No
Embraer 190	0	99	11/88	57

US Airways is planning to have an all-Airbus international widebody fleet by 2010.

With deliveries scheduled between 2011 and 2013, they will be a launch customer for the new Airbus A350, with Airbus also providing a $250 million loan to help fund the exit from bankruptcy and merger. The loan has since been paid off and the status of the A350 order is unclear at this time as Airbus has recently announced that production of the new airliner would be delayed another two years.

The combined airline will continue to take delivery of Airbus aircraft ordered by both US Airways and America West before their merger announcement. In 2009, the airline will take delivery of 11 A320-family aircraft that were originally ordered by America West. 19 A320-family and 10 A330-200 aircraft originally ordered by US Airways will be delivered in 2009 and 2010. Along with the A350s, the A330-200s will complete US Airways' transition to an all-Airbus international fleet.

Most US Airways aircraft are equipped with Verizon Airfone at every row of seats. However, Verizon recently announced that it will be ending this service with the exception of government and corporate aircraft.

Previous aircraft

Previous aircraft flown by USAir or US Airways included:

Fokker F28-4000
Fokker F28-1000
BAC 1-11
Boeing 727-100
Boeing 727-200 (part of 2000 type consolidation replaced by A320 aircraft}
Boeing 737-200 (part of 2000 type consolidation replaced by A320 aircraft}
Douglas DC-9-30 (part of 2000 type consolidation replaced by A320 aircraft}
Fokker F100 (part of 2000 type consolidation replaced by A320 aircraft}
McDonnell Douglas MD-80 (part of 2000 type consolidation replaced by A320 aircraft}

Livery

US Airways has had various different liveries both under the US Airways and USAir name. In general the Express and Shuttle divisions have had liveries that closely parallel the company-wide livery at the time.

In 1979 US Air introduced its new livery, a primarily unpainted plane, with a orange, red, and brown running strip, and a stylized US Air title, with the "A" written as a triangle. Variations of this livery existed, and included the basic livery on a white fuselage. [http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1063424/M/

In the late 1980s the company changed its colors from to a red, white, and blue. The livery adopted under this scheme continued to utilize a primarily unpainted plane, instead with a red running strip, topped by a blue running strip. US Air was converted to a more standard logo, written in a serif font. The tail of the livery was painted blue with red stripes. ^*

Upon the company's re-branding as US Airways a new livery was introduced, the upper portion of the plane was painted in dark blue, the lower portion of the plane in light grey, separated by a white and red running strip. The US Airways title was painted in a white serif font, accompanied by a stylized flag logo. The tail of the airplane was painted in dark blue, with the stylized flag painted on the tail in grey. In addition the company's Metrojet division had a livery derived from this livery, instead with a bright red in place of the blue, and the title Metrojet, in place of US Airways. The tail and underbelly of the livery remained the same as the US Airways mainline livery. ^*

After the 2005 merger of US Airways and and America West, a new livery was unveiled that incorporates colors from the four airlines that became US Airways:

Allegheny (red and blue)
America West (white, orange, turqoise, and waving gray lines)
Pacific Southwest Airlines (red and orange with a black smile)
Piedmont Airlines (also red and blue)

Additionally, the logos of these four airlines will be painted in miniature near the main cabin door.

In addition several airplanes have been painted with heritage liveries, incorporating the look of the previous airlines, but including the US Airways titles. ^* US Airways has displayed considerable historical care in the design of the heritage liveries, repainting the same airplane to achieve a more historically accurate livery.

The Piedmont heritage plane was repainted in a more accurate blue, the airplane type was painted on the tail to match the Piedmont standard, and the US Airways title was changed to red, to better reflect the Piedmont livery. [http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1053664/M/

The Allegheny heritage plane was repainted with a more accurate grey underbelly, a more appropriately sized running strip, and the registration was moved above the window, to more accurately reflect the Allegheny livery. [http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1047391/M/

The PSA heritage plane was repainted with a larger more accurate smile. ^*

The America West heritage plane however has not had any similar repainting. ^*

Incident summary

Flight	Date	Aircraft	Location	Descriptions	Injuries
? ^*	February 26, 1998	Fokker F28 MK 0100	Birmingham, AL	Struck By Lightning	92 Uninjured
? ^*	March 11, 1998	Fokker F100	Philadelphia, PA		1 Serious, 87 Uninjured
5481 ^*	January 08, 2003	Beech 1900D	Charlotte, NC		21 Fatal, 1 Minor
? ^*	October 16, 2003	Airbus Industrie A319-112	Tampa, FL		1 Serious, 2 Minor, 103 Uninjured
? ^*	October 27, 2004	Bombardier CL-600-2B19	Philadelphia, PA	Wing hit vehicle	1 Minor, 41 Uninjured
1821 ^*	June 7, 2005	Embraer 170	Washington, DC	Belt loader hit plane	1 Fatal
1170 ^*	June 9, 2005	Boeing 737-3B7	Boston, MA	runway incursion with Aer Lingus as flight 132	381 Uninjured
4972 ^*	August 02, 2005	Beech 1900D	Rockland, ME		9 Uninjured
4655 ^*	October 16, 2005	Beech 1900D	Ogdensburg, NY	Plane struck coyote during takeoff	3 Uninjured
2319 ^*	October 17, 2005	Bombardier CL-600-2B19	West Grove, PA		51 Uninjured
1251 ^*	November 9, 2005	Boeing 737-3B7	Fort Lauderdale, FL	Near collision with Comair flight 5026	2 Uninjured

US Airways Club

The airline's airport lounge is called the US Airways Club and includes 21 lounges in 16 major airports around the world. Club membership has several levels, including:

Base - Includes access only to the US Airways Clubs.
Red Carpet - Includes US Airways Clubs and adds access to United Airlines Red Carpet Clubs when traveling on a United Airlines ticket.
Star Alliance - Includes US Airways Clubs, United Airlines Red Carpet Clubs, and all Star Alliance partner airline clubs.

External links

US Airways | Low-cost airlines

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