US Airways

The US Airways logo

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A US Airways 737 at Chicago O'Hare

US Airways Template:Airline codes is an airline based in Arlington, Virginia that is owned by US Airways Group Inc.. It is one of the largest airlines in the United States, with a fleet of 282 aircraft serving 89 destinations in North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and Europe.

US Airways operates hubs in Charlotte and Philadelphia, and is opening a new inter-American connecting hub in Fort Lauderdale in February 2005. [1] (http://www.usairways.com/about/press/nw_04_0823.htm) Its other focus airports are Pittsburgh, New York LaGuardia, Washington National, and Boston. The airline became the 15th member of the Star Alliance on May 4, 2004. [2] (http://www.usairways.com/about/press/nw_04_0504.htm)

Commuter service is offered by US Airways Express, a service operated by contract and subsidiary airline companies, and US Airways Shuttle, which provides hourly service between Northeastern hubs in competition with Delta Air Lines' Delta Shuttle.

Comments on the proposed merger are listed in History.

Contents

History

US Airways traces its history to All American Aviation, a company founded in 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 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 US.

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 US. In the early 1980s, its routes in the Northeast were fed by Ransome Airlines.

USAir expanded dramatically in 1987, when it purchased San Diego-based Pacific Southwest Airlines 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. The Piedmont merger, when it was completed in 1989, 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 accepting a large investment from British Airways that started one of the first transatlantic airline alliances. It also invested heavily in a terminal at its hub at Pittsburgh International Airport.

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

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 by United Airlines, then the world's largest, for $4.3 billion. The complex deal drew immediate scorn from labor unions, consumer advocates, and antitrust regulators, however. Relations soured, and with both airlines losing money and the deal all but certain to be blocked by the government, United withdrew its purchase offer on July 27, 2001.

As the largest carrier at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, US Airways was disproportionately impacted by that airport's extended closure following the September 11 attacks. The disaster precipitated the closure of its MetroJet subsidiary and Baltimore hub, and the furloughing of thousands of employees. The airline entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy on August 11, 2002.

It received a government loan through the Air Transportation Stabilization Board and exited bankruptcy quickly. Despite eliminating its Pittsburgh hub and de-emphasizing its hub and spoke system to capitalize on direct flights between major Eastern Seaboard airports such as Logan, LaGuardia, and Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood, high fuel costs and deadlocked negotiations with labor (chiefly the Air Line Pilots Association) returned US Airways to bankruptcy on September 12, 2004. Poor planning coupled with widespread employee discontent was blamed for a staff shortage around the Christmas holiday of 2004, a public relations disaster that led to speculation the airline could be liquidated.

On May 19, 2005, US Airways announced that it would merge with Tempe, Arizona-based America West Airlines, whose strength in the West would complement US Airways' routes in the Northeast, Europe, and the Caribbean. At the time of announcement, plans called for the new entity to retain the US Airways nrand, its Dividend Miles frequent flyer program, and participation in the Star Alliance (subject to the approval of partner United Airlines); however, it will be headquartered at America West's corporate offices and America West executives and board members would be in control of the merged company. For the announcement see: NYT story (http://nytimes.com/2005/05/19/business/20cnd-air.html?hp&ex=1116561600&en=f05446b274ed4c46&ei=5094&partner=homepage); Reuters story (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050520/bs_nm/airlines_merger_dc_23). See: Merger with US Airlines Group for additional information.

Fleet

US Airways flies a fleet of twinjets, divided between newer Airbus aircraft and older Boeing aircraft. Its fleet includes:

Most US Airways aircraft are equipped with "JetConnect," a wireless service provided by Verizon that allows travelers to access e-mail and instant messaging (but not most web sites) in flight.

Since an initial trial run in 2003, US Airways has discontinued complimentary meal service on domestic flights, and now offers sandwiches and salads for purchase on board flights of over 700 miles (1126 km).

In the past, the airline has used Boeing 737-200, Fokker F100, DC-9, Boeing 727 and MD-80 aircraft.

Destinations

US Airways' routes are heavily concentrated in the eastern United States and Caribbean. It operates some feeder flights from major West Coast airports as well as some Essential Air Service contract flights in the Midwest.

See main article US Airways Destinations