U.S Airways

## What is U.S Airways?

US Airways (formerly known as USAir) was a major American airline that ceased to operate independently when the Federal Aviation Administration granted a single operating certificate (SOC) for US Airways and American Airlines on April 8, 2015. Publicly, the two carriers appeared to merge when their reservations systems and booking processes were merged on October 17, 2015; however, other systems were still separate at that time. The airline had an extensive international and domestic network, with 193 destinations in 24 countries in North America, South America, Europe, and the Middle East. The airline was a member of the Star Alliance, before becoming an affiliate member of Oneworld in March 2014. US Airways utilized a fleet of 343 mainline jet aircraft, as well as 278 regional jet and turbo-prop aircraft operated by contract and subsidiary airlines under the name US Airways Express.

## Early Years.

US Airways traces its history to All American Aviation Inc, a company founded in 1939 by du Pont family brothers Richard C. du Pont and Alexis Felix du Pont, Jr.. Headquartered 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; it changed its name again to **Allegheny Airlines** on January 1, 1953.

Allegheny's first jet was the Douglas DC-9 in 1966; it absorbed Lake Central Airlines in 1968 and Mohawk Airlines in 1972 to become one of the largest carriers in the northeastern United States. In 1973 it was the ninth largest airline in the free world by passengers carried (and 24th largest by passenger-miles). With expansion came growing pains: in the 1970s Allegheny had the nickname "Agony Air" due to customer dissatisfaction.

Allegheny's agreement with Henson Airlines, the forerunner to today's US Airways Express carrier Piedmont Airlines, to operate "Allegheny Commuter" flights was the industry's first code-share agreement, a type of service now offered throughout the industry.

## Re-branding

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 accepting a large investment from British Airways that started one of the first transatlantic alliances, resulting in several Boeing 767-200ER aircraft being painted in the British Airways livery, but operated by USAir. In 1992, it also invested in a new terminal at its hub in Pittsburgh.

In 1996, the alliance between USAir and British Airways ended in a court battle when British Airways announced its intentions to partner with American Airlines.

In early 1997, USAir changed its name to **US Airways** and introduced a new corporate identity. A stylized version of the flag of the United States was adopted as a new logo. The new branding was applied to terminals and ticket jackets. The airline painted aircraft in deep blue and medium gray with red and white accent lines

## Mergers

USAir expanded in the late 1980s, purchasing San Diego–based **Pacific Southwest Airlines** (PSA) in 1986 and Winston-Salem, North Carolina–based **Piedmont Airlines** in 1987. The PSA and Piedmont acquisitions were completed in 1988 and 1989, respectively.

The PSA acquisition gave USAir hub presence on the West Coast, while the Piedmont acquisition gave USAir a strong East Coast presence and hubs in Baltimore and Charlotte, which remained key hubs for USAir in later years. The Piedmont acquisition in 1989 was the largest airline merger until then and USAir became one of the world's largest airlines, operating more than 5,000 flights daily. Following the acquisitions, USAir closed down PSA's hubs in California and Piedmont's hubs in Dayton and Syracuse, though both remained focus cities with around 125–150 flights a day each.

Crystal Park Four, former headquarters in Crystal City, Arlington County.

By 1990 the airline had consolidated its headquarters, moving from Washington National Airport to a new building at Crystal City in Arlington County, Virginia, near the airport. Maintenance and operations headquarters remained at Pittsburgh International Airport.

## Merger with American Airlines!?

In February 2013, American Airlines and US Airways announced plans to merge, creating the largest airline in the world. The holding companies of American and US Airways merged effective December 9, 2013. In preparation for their eventual integration, the airlines began offering reciprocal frequent flyer benefits on January 7, 2014, and US Airways left Star Alliance to join Oneworld on March 31, 2014. The combined airline carries the American Airlines name and branding and will maintain the existing US Airways hubs in Charlotte, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Washingtonfor a period of at least five years under the terms of a settlement with the Department of Justice and several state attorneys general. US Airways management runs the combined airline from the American headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas.

On April 8, 2015, American Airlines flights operated by US Airways retired the Cactus callsign used by US Airways since the America West merger. The final flight to use it was Flight 774 from London to Philadelphia.[92]

On July 13, 2015, American announced that it planned to discontinue the US Airways brand name on October 17, 2015. On that date, US Airways made its final flight: Flight 1939 (for the year the airline was founded), using an Airbus A321 registered N152UW, and would take off as US Airways Flight 1939 and land as American Airlines Flight 1939. It landed ahead of schedule at 5:52AM EDT, and at that point, the US Airways brand and all operations under its name were officially terminated.

However, repainting of US Airways' planes into the American Airlines scheme was expected to take until "late 2016", with new flight attendant uniforms also being introduced in 2016, at which point the US Airways brand was to no longer be displayed on any of its former planes, employees or assets

## Final Fleet

The final fleet U.S Airways before merging with American Airlines