US Airways

==Links==
* Airport
===Media===
* US Airways breaks ground on operations center - Pittsburgh Business Times, September 2007, Moon, US Airways
* Merger update article in the Trib from March 2006.
==Details==
===US Airways to cut employees, add fees, reduce flights===
By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, First published on June 12, 2008 at 2:10 pm
US Airways intends to cut 1,700 employees, institute a series of new fees and reduce its flying in 2008 and 2009 as it searches for ways to cut costs and find new revenues amid soaring fuel prices.
Beginning Aug. 1, 2008, it will start charging a $2 fee for an entire can of soda or juice, a bottle of water or a cup of coffee. Next month, it will apply a $15 fee on a passenger's first checked bag, matching a policy already in place at American Airlines. United Airlines also announced a $15 checked-bag fee today. The US Airways fee applies to bookings made on or after July 9, for travel occurring on or after that day, and will be applied on all flights within the U.S. to and from Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean.
US Airways also intends to return at least 10 planes, reduce its flying by 6 to 8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 and 7 to 9 percent in 2009. Hardest hit is Las Vegas, where it will pull most night flying on Sept. 3 and cut daily departures to 74 by the end of 2008, as compared to 141 last fall. Because of the high cost of fuel, revenues from the Las Vegas night operation no longer are exceeding costs, the company said. Planes will now be parked there overnight, as they are in other cities.
"What used to be profitable flying at night" to and from Las Vegas "is no longer profitable," the company said in a release.
Of the 1,700 job losses expected, 600 will come from Las Vegas airport staff. The airline did not detail where the other personnel cuts would be made, other than to say they would be 300 pilots, 400 flight attendants, 200 staff and management positions, and 200 airport positions "throughout the system." Among pilots, 175 of the reductions will happen in the West and 125 in the East.
US Airways becomes the latest carrier to announce cuts in flying and jobs as the industry works through a severe fuel crisis. Continental Airlines said it would cut 3,000 positions and United, 1,500. US Airways Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker told shareholders yesterday that his airline will pay nearly $2 billion more in fuel this year than last.
It's a "severe time" for the industry, he said.
The US Airways announcement followed two days of board meetings in Tempe, Ariz.
Among other cuts, two domestic US Airways clubs, three European airport arrival lounges and three cargo handling stations will close this summer. Among other fees, US Airways customers will now pay $25 for making a reservation over the phone for domestic tickets and $35 for international (up from $15 for both). Also, tickets purchased at airports and city ticket offices will be assessed a $35 domestic fee and $45 international fee (up from $20 for both).
The airline hopes to raises $300 to $400 million annually from the new charges.
"Keep in mind we are working to offset additional fuel expenses of approximately $1.9 billion," the company said in a statement.
=== Feb 2007 Decision to expand operations center in Pittsburgh ===
Location, Incentives Helped; Land New US Airways Center Airline’s Decision
As politicians hailed US Airways’ decision yesterday to build a new flight operations center in Moon, gone were the memories of US Airways’ 10,000 local job cuts, the elimination of nearly 400 daily flights and broken promises that nearly destroyed a relationship between the airline and local airport officials.
“I know it’s been contentious,” Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato said to US Airways President Scott Kirby as the pair stood in front of a ticket counter at Pittsburgh International Airport, where Mr. Kirby announced the coveted $25 million, 600-person project would go to Pittsburgh over Phoenix and Charlotte, N.C. But “we have come a long way.”
US Airways’ painful decision to drastically cut its work force and flights here following a post-9/11 collapse of the U.S. airline industry was a result of Pittsburgh’s poorer economic standing relative to other cities and its unprofitability as a hub. But yesterday’s decision — made by a new management team that took control following a 2005 merger with America West Airlines — was symbolic of the positive role Pittsburgh can still play for the airline, now based in Tempe, Ariz.
Not only does the Pittsburgh area gain 150 technical jobs paying $50,000 a piece as a result of retaining the flight center, but it retains another 450 it might have lost had the contest been won by Phoenix or Charlotte.
US Airways picked Pittsburgh in part because of its respect for the 450 people who already work inside an operations center in Findlay, one of two centers that track and control all flights for US Airways at computers and on a big display board that tracks flights and weather across the country.
Pittsburgh’s proximity to the East Coast was a plus, as well. The U.S. flight schedule begins each morning at 5 a.m. Eastern time, making a center located several time zones to the west more difficult, logistically, to operate. Acting as the “brain” of US Airways, the operations center will be responsible for 1,400 daily mainline flights — pilots cannot take off or land without its approval.
It also helped that the state and Allegheny County offered a $16.25 million incentive package that includes $3 million in state and county grants, $12.5 million in loans and $750,000 in state tax credits tied to the number of jobs created by the project.
Still, “this wasn’t an easy decision,” Mr. Kirby said — particularly with Phoenix reportedly offering $36 million in incentives and Charlotte still serving as the airline’s largest hub with 534 daily flights.
Pittsburgh did not increase its offer as it might have in the past to keep a major job center here, perhaps a reflection of being burned in the past but also a recognition of the behind-the-scenes work done by Allegheny County Airport Authority Director Kent George.
Mr. George, observers said, was the person who pulled it all together, but as is his style, he remained in the audience at yesterday’s airport news conference, while Gov. Ed Rendell and other politicians and executives stood in front of the microphones and cameras.
“Pittsburgh deserved this,” Mr. George said.
The upbeat attitude of Mr. George yesterday was perhaps the clearest indication of improved relations between Pittsburgh and its largest air carrier. It was Mr. George who worked with US Airways through its two bankruptcies, as it stripped Pittsburgh of its hub status and slashed flights and close to 10,000 jobs — it employs 2,700 now, down from 12,700 prior to 9/11.
The low point in his relationship with the airline came in March 2003, as US Airways emerged from its first bankruptcy and rejected its leases with the airport authority, the airport’s owner and operator, 21 minutes before escaping bankruptcy protection. Local aviation officials, caught off guard by the move, later referred to the action as a “stealth attack” and claimed the 11th-hour decision violated a promise made only weeks earlier. “We were lied to,” said airport authority solicitor Jeff Letwin, in 2004.
When US Airways merged with America West, though, the relationship improved dramatically. Just before the deal was closed in 2005, Mr. George met with the new management team, led by 45-year-old Doug Parker, and “that is when the tide turned,” Mr. George said. He liked the fact that Mr. Parker was honest, even blunt at times. “When he couldn’t do something, he let you know he couldn’t do something.”
Another step forward was a five-year lease US Airways signed last year to do heavy and overnight aircraft maintenance work at Pittsburgh International, bringing some stability to the jobs of 1,200 area airline maintenance workers.
The leadership, Mr. George said, is “respectful, above board, truthful and clear. Very direct — that’s good.”
US Airways intends to break ground on its Moon operations center later this year. It selected a 10-acre site off Ewing Road on property owned by Allegheny County.
The center will be ready in 2008, but the first full day of operation will not be until early 2009. US Airways has agreed to a 20-year lease with two 10-year options. It also will have another 20,000-square-foot building nearby as a backup center.
Pittsburgh was such a strong candidate for the center that a proposed takeover of Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines — a bid rejected by Delta creditors last month — would not have made any difference in the decision announced yesterday.
“We would have still put it here,” Mr. Kirby said.