US Airways (USA)

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US Airways

IATA US ICAO AWE Callsign CACTUS
Founded	1939 (as All American Aviation) in Pittsburgh, PA
Hubs	Charlotte/Douglas International Airport Philadelphia International Airport Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
Focus cities	Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
Frequent flyer program	Dividend Miles
Member lounge	US Airways Club
Alliance	Star Alliance
Subsidiaries	Piedmont Airlines PSA Airlines
Fleet size	343 (+104 orders)
Destinations	141
Company slogan	Fly With US
Parent company	US Airways Group
Headquarters	Tempe, Arizona, United States
Key people	Scott Kirby (President) Doug Parker (CEO) Robert Isom (COO) Derek Kerr (CFO)
Website	www.usairways.com

US Airways, Inc., an operating unit of US Airways Group, is the fifth largest airline in the United States.

A member of the Star Alliance, the airline has a fleet of 353 mainline jet aircraft and 319 regional jet and turbo-prop aircraft connecting 200 destinations in North America, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Hawaii, Europe and the Middle East.

As of December 2008, US Airways, based in Tempe, Arizona, employs 33,765 people worldwide and operates 3,130 daily flights (1,312 US Airways Mainline, 1,818 US Airways Express as of December 2008).

The airline was acquired by America West Airlines and its investing partners in 2005, with the new airline retaining the US Airways name.

US Airways operates hubs in Charlotte, Philadelphia and Phoenix and maintains focus city operations at Reagan Washington National Airport.

The airline operates the US Airways Shuttle, a US Airways brand which provides hourly service between Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C.. Regional airline service is branded as US Airways Express, operated by contract and subsidiary airline companies.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Heritage 1.2 1970s: Deregulation and rebranding 1.3 1980s: Mergers and expansion 1.4 1990s: rebranding, fleet modernization, and failed sell-off 1.5 United/ US Airways - The first failed attempt to merge 1.6 2001-2004: September 11th and financial woes 1.7 2003-2004: Pittsburgh hub conflict 1.8 2004-2005 1.9 US Airways/America West Airlines merger 1.10 Post 2005 merger 1.11 2007 1.12 2008 1.12.1 New Flight Operations Center 1.13 2009 1.14 Slogans 2 Destinations 3 Fleet 3.1 Retired 4 Fleet organization 4.1 Livery 5 Cabin 5.1 Envoy Sleeper Seats 5.2 Envoy Class 5.3 Domestic First Class 5.4 Economy Class 6 Dividend Miles 7 Airport lounges 7.1 US Airways Club 7.1.1 Locations 7.2 Envoy Lounge 8 Codeshare agreements 8.1 Former agreements 9 Incidents and accidents 10 Mobile Services 11 Community support 11.1 Do Crew 12 See also 13 References 14 External links

History

Heritage

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US Airways traces its history to All American Aviation Company, a company founded by du Pont family brothers Richard C. du Pont, Alexis Felix du Pont, Jr. and CEO Steven Gardner. 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 1953.^[1]

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 and sixth largest airline in the world as measured by passenger boardings.^[2]

But with expansion came growing pains: by the 1970s Allegheny Airlines had earned the nickname "Agony Air" due to customer dissatisfaction with the carrier's service.^[3]

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,^{[citation needed]} a type of service now offered throughout the industry.^{[citation needed]}

1970s: Deregulation and rebranding

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Allegheny changed its name to USAir in 1979 following the passage of the Airline Deregulation Act the previous year, which enabled the airline to expand its route network into the southeastern United States. In the early 1980s, its routes in the Northeast were fed by Ransome Airlines, among others. Later, USAir acquired San Diego-based PSA (Pacific Southwest Airlines) and Winston-Salem, NC-based Piedmont Airlines in 1987 and 1988.

At that time, the airline consolidated its headquarters at Washington National Airport into a new building at Crystal City in Arlington County, Virginia, adjacent to National Airport. Maintenance and operations remained based at its Pittsburgh International Airport hub.

USAir was a 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 at the time and approached McDonnell Douglas to negotiate a new airplane design. However, in the late 1970s, the McDonnell Douglas' proposed successor to the DC-9-50 did not suit USAir's requirements. After the negotiations with McDonnell Douglas broke down, Boeing came forward with a proposed variant of the 737. USAir selected the new 737 aircraft, and the company worked closely with Boeing during its development, taking delivery of the first plane on November 28, 1984.

1980s: Mergers and expansion

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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, Charlotte, Syracuse, and Dayton, as well as prized routes to the West Coast and Piedmont's transatlantic routes to London Gatwick Airport. While Dayton was a hub for USAir for several years following the Piedmont merger, only Baltimore and Charlotte remained hubs later on. When the Piedmont acquisition was completed in 1989, it was the largest merger in airline history, and USAir became one of the world's largest airlines, operating more than 5,000 flights daily.

1990s: rebranding, fleet modernization, and failed sell-off

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In the early 1990s, USAir expanded its service to Europe with flights to London, Paris and Frankfurt from its four primary hubs. The company formed 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. During this period several 767 aircraft were painted in the British Airways livery, but operated by USAir.^[4][5] It also invested in a new terminal at its hub at Pittsburgh.^{[citation needed]}

In 1996, the alliance between USAir and British Airways ended in a court battle, once British Airways announced its intentions to partner with American Airlines. Subsequently USAir rebranded itself to US Airways. That same year, the airline also introduced a single-class subsidiary service known as MetroJet, which competed with low-cost carriers expanding into the East, in particular Southwest Airlines.^{[citation needed]}

On November 6, 1996, just following the re-branding to US Airways, the airline placed an order for up to 400 Airbus A320-series narrow body aircraft, with 120 firm orders at the time of the order signing. At the time, the order was regarded as the largest bulk aircraft request in history. In 1998, the airline followed with an order for up to 30 Airbus A330-series or A340-series wide-body aircraft, with an initial firm order for seven of the A330-300 airliners. These orders enabled US Airways to replace its older aircraft with newer, more efficient aircraft, and it helped with the re-branding and repositioning efforts of US Airways.^{[citation needed]}

In 1997, US Airways bought the remains of Trump Shuttle. US Airways also steadily expanded its flights to Europe through the end of the decade. Although the airline returned to profitability in the mid-1990s, its route network's concentration in the U.S. Northeast and high operating costs prompted calls for the company to merge with another airline.^{[citation needed]}

United/ US Airways - The first failed attempt to merge

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On May 24, 2000 US Airways announced plans to be acquired for $4.3 billion by UAL Corp., 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.

2001-2004: September 11th and financial woes

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Beginning in 2000, US Airways started retiring aircraft in an attempt to simplify its fleet to lower costs, replacing many of its older planes with the new A320-family aircraft.

As the largest carrier at Washington-Reagan, US Airways was disproportionately affected by that airport's extended closure following the September 11 terrorist attacks. The resulting financial disaster precipitated the closure of the airline's MetroJet network, which led to the de-hubbing of the subsidiary's primary operating base at Baltimore-Washington International Airport and the furloughing of thousands of employees. The airline entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy on August 11, 2002, but received a government-guaranteed loan through the Air Transportation Stabilization Board and was able to exit bankruptcy in 2003^[6] after a relatively short period. The airline made major cost reductions during its bankruptcy, but it still encountered higher-than-average per-seat-mile costs. On October 19, 2005, the airline repaid the government-guaranteed loan by refinancing the debt with other lenders.^{[citation needed]}

In early 2003, US Airways management liquidated the pensions of its 6,000 pilots by releasing their pensions into the federal pension program Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The company was one of the first major airlines to eliminate pilots' pensions in order to cut costs.^{[citation needed]}

Following a trial run of selling in-flight food in 2003, US Airways discontinued free meal service on domestic flights later that year.^{[citation needed]}

2003-2004: Pittsburgh hub conflict

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In late 2003-early 2004, US Airways lobbied for lower operating fees at Pittsburgh International Airport, citing its economies of scale as the primary carrier and largest tenant at the airport. US Airways attempted to leverage its adverse cash position and "red ink" in the years following 9/11 to negotiate better financial terms with the airport. The Allegheny County Airport Authority rejected US Airways' demands for reduced landing fees and lower lease payments, in part due to antitrust and FAA regulations that required the airport operator to extend the same financial terms to all carriers if it accepted US Airways' demands. US Airways threatened to move traffic to rival hubs in Philadelphia and Charlotte, and the airline made good on its threat in November 2004, reducing its flights at Pittsburgh International Airport from primary-hub to secondary-hub status. The airline, led by former America West CEO Doug Parker, continued to demote Pittsburgh International Airport in subsequent years until it became only a focus city airport for the company.^[7] As of 2009, Pittsburgh is simply considered a US Airways destination with an average of 50 departures a day, compared to 2001 when it was a hub with 500+ flights a day with service across the United States and to Europe.^{[citation needed]}

2004-2005

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In August 2004, US Airways attempted to build a Latin American gateway at Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood, announcing service to 10 cities in Latin America and the Caribbean. The attempt was largely unsuccessful and short-lived, in part due to Fort Lauderdales close proximity to American Airlines hub at Miami International Airport and its extensive Latin American network. US Airways also 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 highest-profit routes, and is a system modeled after lower-cost Southwest Airlines' operations, a system (ironically) that most U.S. airlines had used until the mid-1980s.

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

Fuel costs and deadlocked negotiations with organized labor (chiefly the Air Line Pilots Association, that was 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 a high volume of employee 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 USDOT found that the problems were caused primarily by poor airline management.

US Airways/America West Airlines merger

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Even before the second bankruptcy filing of 2004, one of the alternatives US Airways Group explored was a possible merger with America West, as the two airlines had complementary networks and similar labor costs. The parties held preliminary discussions and conducted due diligence from February through July 2004. Ultimately, these talks ended due to issues related to labor, pension, and benefit costs.^{[citation needed]}

By December 2004, US Airways had cut labor costs significantly. Its investment adviser, the Seabury Group, suggested putting the airline up for sale. The following month, US Airways Group and America West Holdings resumed their discussions. On May 19, 2005, both airlines officially announced the merger deal, structured as a reverse takeover. Financing for the deal was supplied by outside investors including Airbus S.A.S., an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, the European aerospace consortium. Air Wisconsin Airlines Corporation, operator of numerous US Airways Express flights, and ACE Aviation Holdings, the parent company of Air Canada, also bought shares in the combined airline. The merged airline retained the US Airways name to emphasize its national scope, as well as to capitalize on US Airways' worldwide recognition, Dividend Miles frequent flyer program, and Star Alliance membership.^[8] On September 13, 2005, America West shareholders voted to approve the merger agreement, and three days later the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia approved US Airways' emergence from bankruptcy, allowing the merger to close on September 27.^{[citation needed]}

Since the merger, US Airways has been 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 company's aircraft have used the US Airways operating certificate since September 2007, but retained America West's airline call sign "CACTUS".^{[citation needed]}

Post 2005 merger

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During 2006 the airline began consolidating its operations under the US Airways brand; Operations were not fully integrated until October 2008, when government approval allowing the airlines to operate under a single operating certificate.^{[citation needed]}

In January 2006, the airline began consolidating its operations under the US Airways brand, and all America West flights became branded as US Airways flights.^{[citation needed]}

On February 9, 2006, US Airways announced that it would become the first American "legacy" carrier to add the Embraer 190 to its mainline fleet.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2006, US Airways and America West ordered 20 new Airbus A350 aircraft.^[9] The end of 2006 saw US Airways making a bid for competitor Delta Air Lines, which opposed this bid and hostiled takeover by US Airways. The final bid was valued at $10 billion but was withdrawn on January 31, 2007, since US Airways failed to secure backing from Delta's creditors. The airline has stated that it will no longer pursue a possible takeover of Delta.^[10]

Most pre-merger US Airways aircraft were equipped with Verizon Airfone in every row of seats. Since Verizon ended this service, the airline has deactivated the service and as of 2007, has removed the phones or has covered them in all aircraft.

Michael Miller, a member of The Velocity Group, an airline consulting firm, said that he approves of Parker's handling of the merger.^[11]

During the night of March 4, 2007, the US Airways and America West computer reservation systems merged. US Airways, which previously used the Sabre airline computer system, switched to the new QIK system, an overlay for the Shares system, which is based on the Amadeus computer reservations system, that had been used by America West. A few of the features from the Sabre system were incorporated into the new joint system, with the most prominent being the continued utilization of the Sabre ramp partition "DECS" for all computer functions related to weight and balance, aircraft loading and technical flight tracking within the company. Former America West employees were fully trained and migrated to the old East system on September 25, 2007.^{[citation needed]}

America West Airlines completely merged into the US Airways certificate on September 25, 2007, which formally ended the America West brand. Former America West employees (including pilots, fleet service personnel, flight attendants and mechanics) remain on their original America West union contracts and have not completely combined work forces with their pre-merger US Airways counterparts. Until October, 2008, Former America West aircraft flew with their respective crews and used the call sign "CACTUS", while the pre-merger US Airways crews primarily flew with their respective aircraft and used the call sign "US AIR". In October, 2008, the company began operating under a single operating certificate (that of the former US Airways.) This required operation under a single call sign, and that of America West ("cactus") was the chosen survivor. In addition, flights operated using former America West aircraft and crews are numbered 1-699, whereas flights operated by pre-merger US Airways aircraft and crews are numbered 700-1999. (Flights numbered 2000-2199 are shuttle services, and those 2200 and higher are operated by express subsidiaries.)^{[citation needed]} Aircraft operated by pre-merger US Airways crews or former America West crews flew under two different United States Department of Transportation operating certificates until September 25, 2007. However, until pilot union groups from both sides successfully negotiate a single contract, each group of pilots will fly only on its pre-merger airlines' aircraft and the flights will be marked accordingly.^{[citation needed]}

Now that the computer systems are merged, former America West-operated flights are marketed as though America West was a wholly owned carrier. This marketing is common practice for airlines that have code-share agreements with other airlines operating aircraft for feeder or regional routes, and although the practice is uncommon for major airlines, it greatly simplifies the process for passengers connecting between historically US Airways-operated flights and former America West-operated flights.^{[citation needed]}

In summer 2007, US Airways began upgrading its in-flight services, from food and entertainment to the training of flight attendants. The airline was planning to test-market a new seat back entertainment system in early 2008, however the 2008 fuel crisis has ended those plans. As a further result of the skyrocketing fuel costs, the airline is now rolling back the planned summer 2007 service upgrades as well as ending its existing in-flight entertainment on all domestic routes.^[12]

2007

A Consumer Reports survey of 23,000 readers in June 2007 ranked US Airways as the worst airline for customer satisfaction. The survey was conducted before the airline's March 2007 service disruptions. A follow-up survey polling a smaller sample size, conducted in April 2007, found that US Airways remained in last place, with its score dropping an additional 10 points.^[13] Also in 2007, the Today/Zagat Airline Survey rated US Airways as the worst airline overall in the United States, ranking it 10/30 for comfort, 5/30 for food, 10/30 for service, and 15/30 for its online reservations system.^[14] On August 1, 2008, US Airways ceased providing its passengers with free drinks, including water. Passengers were required to purchase bottled water or soda for $2 US, or $1 US for coffee and tea. However, the Shuttle flights between LGA, DCA, and BOS continued to offer free beverages.^[15] As of March 1, 2009, US Airways began offering free nonalcoholic beverage service again.

US Airways ranked last out of 20 domestic airline carriers for systemwide on-time performance in March, April and May 2007, according to US Department of Transportation figures.^[16][17][18] According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics June 2008 report (using data from May 2008), US Airways ranked 7th for percentage of on-time arrivals.

US Airways is the leader in service complaints with 4.4 complaints per 100,000 customers^[19]. US Airways rate of customer complaints is 7.5-times the rate of JetBlue (0.59 complaints per 100,000 customers) and 11-times the rate of Southwest (0.4 complaints per 100,000 customers)^[19]. US Airways has a very poor record of addressing customer complaints, answering only 50% of the telephone calls to its customer service department^[20].

US Airways east pilots took steps to relinquish their ALPA membership and form their own in-house union.^[21] Pre-merger US Airways "East" pilots were dissatisfied with the results of binding arbitration when the arbitrator's ruling placed all active former America West pilots, including their most junior pilot, who had been hired only three months previous to the merger, ahead of furloughed US Airways pilots with up to seventeen years of service. The former US Airways pilots petitioned the National Mediation Board to conduct a vote to determine whether to replace their union. East pilots (3,200) outnumbered west pilots (1,800) and the proposed union's president stated that the union has a sufficient number of requests to call a vote according to National Mediation Board regulations.^[22] The new union would be called the US Airline Pilots Association (USAPA). On April 17, 2008, USAPA was voted in as the sole bargaining agent for the pilots of US Airways, East and West.

As of September 2007, US Airways continued to downgrade Pittsburgh International Airport's status from 500 flights a day (with 12,000 employees) in 2001 to just 68 flights a day (with only 1,800 employees). CEO Doug Parker stated its frustration with PIT being an unprofitable airport and that more cuts may be on the way. This represents a further deterioration of a strained relationship with Allegheny County, with which the airline shares significant historical ties.^[23] US Airways Group Inc. said October 3, 2007 it would cut mainline flights at Pittsburgh International Airport to 22 a day from 31 and reduce regional flights to 46 a day from 77, beginning January 6, 2008, essentially reducing the airport to a destination spoke in its network.^[24] Pittsburgh is no longer a focus city for the airline as of its most recent annual report and January 2008 flight schedule reductions. US Airways did however select Pittsburgh for the site of its new flight operations center, beating out proposals from Charlotte and Phoenix. It opened ahead of schedule in November 2008 and is home to approximately 600 employees. It serves as the nerve center for all of US Airways' nearly 1,400 daily mainline flights.

On September 25, 2007 US Airways was awarded a route by the DOT to serve Beijing from Charlotte via Philadelphia^[25] This marks the first direct route to China from Philadelphia, scheduled to begin in March 2009. US Airways has threatened to withdraw the proposed route, however, if Philadelphia International Airport allows Delta Air Lines to enter Terminal A East.^[26] They withdrew the rights to the PHL-PEK route for a different reason (not due to Delta enter Terminal A), which was explained by Parker saying on October 28, 2009: "As we evaluated our international routes in Philadelphia, we made the necessary decisions to pull down capacity that simply isn't profitable in today's economic environment. However, we remain firmly committed to exploring additional opportunities as the economy slowly recovers, including reevaluating our proposed China service in the future."^[27] They might retain the option for reapply in the future.^[28]

On September 26, 2007 US Airways received Single FAA certification.^[29]

On October 29, 2007, US Airways announced it will apply for daily nonstop service between Charlotte and Bogotá, Colombia when the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) begins selecting carriers for 21 new weekly flights to the South American nation.^[30] The carrier has since lost this bid.

On November 11, 2007, US Airways announced nonstop service between Philadelphia and London's Heathrow Airport.

2008

On April 25, 2008, it was reported that US Airways was in talks to merge its operations with either American Airlines or United Airlines, partially as a response to the recent Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines merger.^[31] Then, on April 28, 2008, reports stated that US Airways would announce its intent to merge with United within two weeks.^[32] At the end of May 2008, the airline announced that merger talks were formally ended.^[33] However, it is anticipated that a prospective United-US Airways merger may re-emerge if the Delta Air Lines-Northwest Airlines merger succeeds.

On May 20, 2008, according to the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index by the University of Michigan, US Airways ranked last in customer satisfaction among the major airlines (http://www.eturbonews.com/2588/us-airways-bottom-airline-customer-satisfacti).

On June 6, 2008, US Airways announced that it cannot furlough aging 737 Classic aircraft (as United and Continental have announced) due to minimum fleet size requirements imposed on it by labor unions.^[34]

US Airways was the number one ontime airline in 2008 among the big six hub and spoke carriers. From the most recent data released October 2009, it currently ranks number one also for 2009.

New Flight Operations Center

Pittsburgh International Airport won a three way competition between Phoenix and Charlotte for the right to continue as the 600 employee strong Global Flight Operations center. Opening in November 2008, U.S. Airways invested more than $25 million into a state-of-the-art 72,000 square foot facility. It replaced a smaller 11 year old (pre-merger) operations center closer to downtown Pittsburgh. The opening and long-term investment ensures that Pittsburgh continues to be the operational hub of the U.S. Airways network. [6]

2009