Category Archives: US Airways Express

American’s new CEO Doug Parker puts the AA livery to an employee vote, there will be a TWA retrojet

American Airlines‘ (Dallas/Fort Worth) new 2013 livery was approved by out-going CEO Tom Horton as we have previously reported. Incoming CEO (and US Airways boss) Doug Parker is now putting the question of keeping this design or adopting a more traditional AA tail to an employee vote (all American and US Airways employees). One question is certain, either way, the fuselage will be painted because of the Airbus fleet and the newer Boeing aircraft like the 787.

Nearly 620 US Airways and US Airways Express aircraft now need to be repainted, let alone the remaining AA aircraft.There are now over 200 AA aircraft already repainted in the 2013 Horton design which features the large American flag on the tail. The new flight symbol logo (above) is everywhere now. However many employees miss the traditional AA on the tail (see below).

Doug has sent this message below to his expanded group of employees and is asking them to vote on two choices: silver paint with the new American flag on the tail or silver paint with the traditional AA on tail. Which do you like best? Please see our unofficial poll below for the readers of WAN (yes, AA-US employees can vote too in our poll).

Doug has also announced there will a TWA legacy retrojet (which color scheme?) to honor the proud employees of that once great airline. All of the heritage US Airways aircraft (including Allegheny, America West, Piedmont and PSA) will be retained in the new American along with one US Airways 2005 liveried aircraft and an American 1968 liveried aircraft. We have also included a TWA legacy poll below with all of the TWA color schemes and the years introduced. Which TWA design would you like to see?

Here is Doug’s full message to the employees:

American Livery Poll: Unless you are an AA-US employee, your opinion will not be heard. However you can give your opinion here. Vote for your favorite design.

TWA RetroJet Livery Poll:

American Airlines:

TWA:

US Airways:

TWA main liveries over the years (there were other minor variations but this is the main ones with the most recent at the top going back in time):

TWA 1995 (the last color scheme for TWA and the most stylistic):

TWA 1979 (included the tapered two traditional red stripes and the solid red TRANS WORLD fuselage titles:

TWA 1974 (basically the same as the later 1980 updated look, except with the harder-to-read red outline fuselage titles):

TWA 1962 (the classic early jet age “red arrow” and “twin globes” scheme, aircraft were called “StarStream …) (prior to this, early jet aircraft had a simple red TWA on the tail):

TWA 1952 (basically the 1945 with a white top, white was added to keep the aircraft cooler in flight, here is the the classic red and white “twin stripes” color scheme of the prop era):

TWA 1945: (after World War II aircraft wore this simple bare metal design with twin red stripes and red TWA titles):

TWA 1938 (“The Lindbergh Line” was pretty basic – only two tail stripes and red titles with a simple logo on a bare metal fuselage):

PSA Airlines’ pilots ratify a new contract, airline to receive 30 large regional jets

PSA Airlines’ (2nd) (US Airways Express) (Dayton) pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), have ratified tentative agreements reached with the managements of PSA Airlines and its parent company, US Airways Group Inc. (Phoenix), that guarantee the placement of 30 large regional jets at PSA. With 85.99 percent of eligible pilots casting their ballots, 61 percent voted in favor of the agreements.

The agreements are contingent on the merger of US Airways Group and AMR Corporation by December 31, 2015.

The agreements include a commitment by US Airways Group to place a minimum of 30 large regional jets on the PSA operating certificate. PSA pilots will also be granted seniority-based interviews and guaranteed additional job offers at US Airways. In exchange, PSA pilots agreed to pay adjustments, changes to medical premiums, and an extension of their contract to 2023. Coming six months to the day after the pilots ratified a new contract, the agreements also provide PSA pilots with greater job security at PSA, furlough protections, and opportunities for first officers to upgrade to captain positions more quickly.

Copyright Photo: Jay Selman/Airlinersgallery.com. PSA currently operates 35 smaller Bombardier CRJ200s and 14 of the pictured CRJ700 (CL-600-2C10). N702PS (msn 10135) departs from the Charlotte hub.

US Airways Express-PSA Airlines:

Piedmont Airlines’ DHC-8-102 N934HA makes a wheels-up landing at Newark this morning

Piedmont Airlines (2nd) (US Airways Express) (Salisbury) had an incident around 0100 this morning at Newark Liberty Airport. The crew operating a flight from the Philadelphia hub to Newark were forced to make a wheels-up landing at Newark with Bombardier (de Havilland Canada) DHC-8-102 Dash 8 N934HA (msn 139) after it was unable to lower the gear. 31 passengers and three crew members were able to walk away from the incident.

Read the full account (with a video) from ABC Channel 7: CLICK HERE

Video:

USA Airways Express/Piedmont Airlines:

PSA Airlines’ pilots ratify the new contract

PSA Airlines’ (2nd) (US Airways Express) (Dayton), a wholly-owned subsidiary of US Airways (Phoenix), represented by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), have voted to ratify a new five-year collective bargaining agreement that was reached on February 14. The new contract was ratified by the airline’s 515 ALPA-represented pilots who are based in in Dayton, Ohio; Knoxville, Tennessee and Charlotte, North Carolina.

Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum. PSA Airlines’ (2nd) Bombardier CRJ200 (CL-600-2B19) N261PS (msn 7959) climbs away from the Charlotte Douglas International Airport hub.

US Airways Express-PSA Airlines:

PSA Airlines and ALPA reach a tentative agreement for a new contract

PSA Airlines (2nd) (US Airways Express) (Dayton), a wholly-owned subsidiary of US Airways (Phoenix), has announced that it has reached a tentative agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents the airline’s 515 pilots.

ALPA will be presenting the details of the tentative agreement to its members for a ratification vote in the coming weeks. The tentative agreement would cover the airline’s 515 pilots, who are based in Dayton, Ohio; Knoxville, Tennessee and Charlotte, North Carolina.

US Airways Express-PSA Airlines:

Piedmont Airlines and the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) reach a tentative agreement on a new contract

Piedmont Airlines (2nd) (US Airways Express) (Salisbury), a wholly-owned subsidiary of US Airways (Phoenix), has announced that it has reached a tentative agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents the airline’s 375 pilots. The tentative agreement is subject to language being finalized, which is expected to occur over the next few weeks.

Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum. Piedmont Airlines’ Bombardier DHC-8-102 N936HA (msn 145) taxies to the runway at the Charlotte hub.

US Airways Express-Piedmont Airlines (2nd):

US Airways reports its highest annual profit in company history

US Airways Group, Inc. (US Airways) (Phoenix) today reported its fourth quarter and 2012 financial results. For full year 2012, the Company reported a record net profit of $537 million, or $2.79 per diluted share, which excludes net special items totaling a credit of $100 million. This compares to a full year 2011 net profit of $111 million excluding net special items, or $0.68 per diluted share. On a GAAP basis, the Company reported a record net profit of $637 million, or $3.28 per diluted share for 2012, up 797 percent over the 2011 net profit of $71 million, or $0.44 per diluted share.

For the fourth quarter 2012, net profit excluding net special items was $46 million, or $0.26 per diluted share. Net profit excluding net special items for the fourth quarter 2011 was $21 million, or $0.13 per diluted share. On a GAAP basis, the Company reported a record net profit of $37 million for its fourth quarter 2012, or $0.22 per diluted share, compared to a net profit of $18 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, for the same period in 2011. As previously disclosed, the Company’s fourth quarter and full year results were negatively impacted by approximately $35 million due to Hurricane Sandy. See the accompanying notes in the Financial Tables section of this press release for a reconciliation of GAAP financial information to non-GAAP financial information.

US Airways Group, Inc. Chairman and CEO Doug Parker stated, “We couldn’t be happier with the performance of US Airways in 2012. Our 32,000 hard-working team members did a phenomenal job of running a safe and reliable airline for our customers and these record financial results are the result of their efforts.

A strong demand environment and record passenger yields led to improved revenue performance. Total revenues in the fourth quarter were a record $3.3 billion, up 3.9 percent versus the fourth quarter 2011 on a 1.4 percent increase in total available seat miles (ASMs). Total revenue per ASM was a record 15.58 cents, up 2.5 percent versus the same period last year driven by a two point increase in passenger load factor.

For the full year 2012, total revenues were a record $13.8 billion, up 5.9 percent versus 2011. Total revenue per ASM increased 3.9 percent to a record 15.64 cents, driven by a 3.5 percent increase in passenger yield and a record load factor of 82.9 percent, up from 82.3 percent in 2011.

Total operating expenses in the fourth quarter were $3.2 billion, up 3.5 percent over the same period last year. Mainline cost per available seat mile (CASM) was 13.55 cents, up 2.8 percent on a 0.7 percent increase in mainline ASMs. Excluding special items, fuel and profit sharing, mainline CASM was 8.73 cents, up 2.9 percent versus the same period last year. Express CASM excluding special items and fuel was 14.54 cents, down 2.7 percent on a 4.8 percent increase in ASMs.

For the full year 2012, total operating expenses were $13.0 billion, up 2.7 percent versus 2011. Excluding special items, fuel and profit sharing, mainline CASM increased 0.5 percent to 8.39 cents. Express CASM excluding special items and fuel decreased 1.5 percent to 14.49 cents.

Liquidity

As of December 31, 2012, the Company had $2.71 billion in total cash and investments, of which $336 million was restricted, up from $2.31 billion, of which $365 million was restricted on December 31, 2011.

Special Items

The Company recognized approximately $9 million of net special items in the fourth quarter, which are primarily related to corporate transaction and auction rate securities arbitration costs.

Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum. The remaining Boeing 737-400s will be the next type to be retired by US Airways. Boeing 737-4B7 N439US (msn 24781) climbs away from the runway at Charlotte.

US Airways:

Piedmont Airlines’ fleet and passenger service employees ratify the contract

Piedmont Airlines (2nd) (subsidiary of US Airways) (US Airways Express) (Salisbury) fleet and passenger service employees have voted to ratify the new collective bargaining agreement previously announced on May 31. The new four and a half year agreement was ratified by Piedmont Airlines’ more than 3,000 employees who are represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

US Airways Express-Piedmont Airlines:

PSA’s pilots to US Airways management: Get a new contract done now!

PSA Airlines‘ (2nd) (US Airways Express) (subsidiary of US Airways) (Dayton) pilots, represented by ALPA, are angry over the length of negotiations with US Airways (Phoenix) management over the length of the current negotiations for a new contract. The union issued the following statement:

“June 9, 2012, is the third anniversary of the start of contract negotiations for the pilots of PSA Airlines, a wholly owned subsidiary of US Airways Group, Inc. PSA pilots, who are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), are marking this milestone with a strong message to company executives: now is the time to reach a deal that rewards PSA pilots for the valuable service they provide to their airline and their passengers.

“PSA pilots demand to be recognized for the exceptional contributions we make to our airline’s operations,” said Capt. Jesse Coeling, chairman of ALPA’s PSA chapter. To underscore this point, PSA pilots are promoting the message “Our Day Has Value” in a show of unified support for their Negotiating Committee.

PSA pilots, who fly under the US Airways Express brand, have been in negotiations with management since June 2009; the two parties have been working with a federal mediator since October 2011. The next bargaining session will be held June 11–14, 2012. “Frankly, three years is too long to be in negotiations,” Capt. Coeling said. He notes that much has changed in the U.S. airline industry since 2009, and the future is uncertain, making this the right time to reach a deal.

“Securing a fair, improved contract now not only recognizes the important role our pilots play in our airline’s operations, but also provides the necessary stability for PSA and US Airways to succeed in this dynamic environment,” Capt. Coeling said. “We are committed to achieving this goal, and we call on our management to come to the bargaining table next week ready to work toward an agreement by the end of the summer.”

US Airways Express-PSA Airlines (2nd):

Piedmont Airlines and the CWA union reach a tentative agreement

Piedmont Airlines (2nd) (Salisbury), a wholly-owned subsidiary of US Airways (Phoenix), has announced tit has reached a tentative agreement on a new, four and a half year collective bargaining agreement with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the representative of the airline’s more than 3,000 fleet and passenger service employees. Details of the agreement will be made available by the CWA.

The CWA will be presenting the details of the tentative agreement to its members for consideration with an endorsement for ratification, which is expected to take place in July. Once ratified, the new agreement will extend through January, 2017.

US Airways Express-Piedmont Airlines: