is an airline based in
Tempe, Arizona , owned by
US Airways Group, Inc. . Currently the seventh largest airline in the United States, US Airways has a fleet of 258 aircraft and serves 176 destinations in
North America ,
Central America , the
Caribbean , and
Europe . The airline was acquired by
America West Holdings Corporation in late 2005, operations are expected to be combined with
America West Airlines in
2007 . The airline became the 15th member of the
Star Alliance on
May 4 ,
2004 .
US Airways operates hubs in
Charlotte and
Philadelphia . It has a secondary hub at
Pittsburgh and focus airports
New York LaGuardia ,
Washington Reagan ,
Boston , and
Fort Lauderdale . In addition to these cities, merger partner America West Airlines operates hubs at
Phoenix and
Las Vegas .
The airline operates the
US Airways Shuttle , a US Airways brand which provides hourly service between key
Northeastern markets in competition with
Delta Air Lines ' Delta Shuttle. Regional airline service is branded as
US Airways Express , operated by contract and subsidiary airline companies, along with US Airways itself as
MidAtlantic Airways .
US Airways traces its history to
All American Aviation , 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.
Allegheny changed its name to 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 .
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 Alliance s. It also invested heavily in a new, state-of-the-art terminal at its hub at
Pittsburgh .
In
1996 , USAir closed its relationship with British Airways and announced its re-branding as . 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 Carrier s 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 Union s, 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The "new" US Airways is headquartered at the former America West corporate offices in for additional information.
On
September 13 , 2005, America West's shareholders voted to approve the merger agreement. 95.5 percent of shareholders approved the transaction. See:
results of shareholder voting .
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. For the merger approval announcement,
click here .
A new livery has been unveiled that incorporates colors from the 4 airlines that became US Airways:
Allegheny (red and blue);
America West (white and waving gray lines);
Piedmont (also red and blue); and
PSA (red). These four airlines will have their logos in miniature near the main cabin door. There will also be 4-8 "retrojets" painted in the final livery colors of each of those predecessor airlines, but with US Airways titles.
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 .
On
February 9 ,
2006 , US Airways became the first American "legacy" carrier to add the
Embraer 190 to its mainline fleet.
,
Amsterdam .]]
US Airways flies a fleet of twinjets, divided between mostly newer
Airbus aircraft and generally older
Boeing aircraft. As of 12 February 2006, its fleet includes:
US Airways also operates a fleet of approximately 28
Embraer 170 aircraft as
US Airways Express , through its
MidAtlantic Airways division, staffed primarily with previously furloughed mainline employees. US Airways is in the process of selling these aircraft to
Republic Airways Holdings , where they will continue to operate as US Airways Express. On
February 9 ,
2006 , the airline announced a firm order for 25
Embraer 190 aircraft, a cousin of the 170. However, unlike the smaller E-Jet, the 190 will have an 11-seat First Class cabin and be operated by mainline employees.
In March 2006, US Airways fleet age is 10.4 years old.
US Airways has stated that they intend to have an all-Airbus international widebody fleet by 2010. They have no current orders or options for any
Boeing aircraft. 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 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.
Since an initial trial run in
2003 , US Airways has discontinued complimentary meal service on domestic flights, and now offers bistro sandwiches and salads for purchase on board most flights of over 700 miles (1126 km).
Since the year 2000, US Airways has retired several aircraft types in an attempt to simplify its fleet and thus lower its costs. These retirements were made possible thanks to deliveries of new Airbus A320-series narrowbodies. Aircraft types retired as a result of the Airbus deliveries were the
Boeing 727-200 ,
DC-9-30 ,
Boeing 737-200 ,
MD-80 , and
Fokker F100 . Other aircraft types previously flown by USAir or US Airways were the
Fokker F28-4000 ,
Fokker F28-1000 ,
BAC 1-11 , and
Boeing 727-100 .
The airline's
Airport Lounge is called the 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.
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 with 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.
See Also: US Airways destinations
