A lthough the airline technically no longer exists since the operating certificates of US Airways and American Airlines were combined into one single operating certificate as approved by the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States effective as of Wednesday, April 8, 2015, the last flight to be operated by US Airways will be flight 434 — an overnight flight which is scheduled to depart from San Francisco at approximately 10:00 in the evening Pacific Daylight Time on Friday, October 16, 2015; and is scheduled to land at Philadelphia International Airport sometime after 6:00 in the morning Eastern Daylight Time on Saturday, October 17, 2015 — and the official Internet web site of US Airways will shut down, according to this article written by David Koenig of the Associated Press.
Additionally, airport kiosks and signs will change to American Airlines.
It all started with this announcement back in February of 2013; and although frequent fliers have debated as to who really took over whom, the airlines officially merged on Monday, December 9, 2013 — becoming the largest airline in the world in terms of passenger traffic as a result, taking the title from United Airlines, which in turn de-throned Delta Air Lines on Friday, August 27, 2010, which had become the largest airline in the world on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 when its merger with Northwest Airlines was approved by the Department of Justice of the United States — and the combined entity used the American Airlines name.
Ironically, the original name of US Airways was All American Aviation when it was founded back in 1937; and then the name of the Pittsburgh-based airline became All American Airways in 1949. Now it truly is all-American aviation.
Northwest Airlines faded into history in December of 2009 when a single operating certificate was approved for Delta Air Lines; and Continental Airlines became nothing more than a memory in November of 2011 when a single operating certificate was approved for United Airlines, although — as with American Airlines and US Airways — it has been debated in both cases which airline actually survived despite the official name of the airline which survived.
I have little sentiment for US Airways. I never cared for their logos and livery from 1997 onwards. I did not like when they charged a fee to redeem Dividend Miles for an award ticket. I did not fly on the airline as a passenger in its former incarnations — such as Piedmont Airlines or Allegheny Airlines. This does not mean that I wanted to see the airline disappear by any means — it simply was not an airline of choice for me.
Regardless, another piece of commercial aviation history in the United States sadly bites the dust.
Rest in peace, US Airways.
Photograph ©2013 by Brian Cohen.
