U.S. Airways getting new look with merger

Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2005 | 9:58 a.m.

America West Airlines is about a month away from becoming the nation's fifth-largest passenger carrier and taking over the name US Airways.

Tuesday, McCarran International Airport's second-busiest airline gave the public its first look at what its planes will look like after a five-city cross-country tour that included a stop in Las Vegas.

The new US Airways look will have several similarities to the current design -- a move that will make the transition from old to new less expensive.

At the same time, the new company opted to capture the heritage of four airlines that are a part of US Airways' ancestry.

"It's a clear, crisp, professional image," said Doug Parker, chief executive of America West and the person chosen to be the chief executive when the companies officially tie the knot sometime around Sept. 26.

"When the merger is completed, we'll be the world's largest low-cost carrier," Parker said.

Thousands of employees and onlookers greeted an Airbus A320 jet painted in the new colors as it flew from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, then to Charlotte, N.C., Las Vegas and, finally, Phoenix, where the new airline will make its corporate headquarters.

The new paint scheme is predominantly white with accents of blue and red. It includes the US Airways' stylized version of the flag and waving stripes inspired by those that stream the undersides of existing America West planes.

Parker said the dominant use of white would be an energy-saver for US Airways planes that will operate in Phoenix and Las Vegas in the hot summer months. The current US Airways paint scheme features dark blue across the top of the fuselage.

Money also was saved, Parker said, by culling the ideas of employees to come up with the aircraft designs instead of hiring consultants to create a new mark.

Near the door of each aircraft, the airline will position a heritage mark that includes logos from the largest airlines that have merged over the years to become US Airways -- Allegheny, Piedmont, Pacific Southwest and America West. In addition, the airline plans to have four "throwback aircraft that will keep the distinctive US Airways typography but use paint schemes from the four heritage carriers."

Aviation buffs that remember Pacific Southwest planes that operated in Southern California will be happy to see the airlines trademark grin painted on the front of that jet.

Parker said the company probably would do away with specially themed painted aircraft. Among those are a Boeing 757 jet America West flies with a Nevada state flag design.

America West also has been a major booster of professional sports teams in Arizona and has aircraft painted with designs honoring the Phoenix Suns, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Arizona Cardinals. Those, too, are expected to be painted over.

Parker, US Airways Chief Executive Officer Bruce Lakefield and several officers of the two airlines were joined Tuesday by former heritage carrier employees -- many wearing their old uniforms -- and several journalists on the cross-country trip to show off the new design and give an update on the status of the merger.

At McCarran, about 200 people, many of them America West employees, crowded an airport gate to get their first glimpse of the plane. Airline officials said the crowds were largest at Charlotte, where US Airways has a dominant presence, and at Phoenix, where the plane pulled up to an America West maintenance hangar and was met by several hundred cheering onlookers.

While Parker heard plenty of cheers on the tour, he said he was aware that many of America West's 14,000 employees, including the 1,300 in Las Vegas, had some anxiety about giving up the name, which began flying in 1981. But he explained that the US Airways name is better known nationwide and internationally than America West and that it made more sense financially to take the larger companys mark on uniforms and collateral material.

Parker said airline executives also decided to emphasize the heritage airlines' contribution to what the company has become after seeing Internet sites developed by former employees wanting to preserve the legacy of the historic carriers.

"It was clear to me that employees from these airlines continue to recognize and pay homage to their pasts and as I talked to our own employees, I heard similar comments," Parker said.

The merged airline plans to emphasize its role as a low-cost carrier. After the merger occurs, the airline plans to take the ticker symbol LCC on the New York Stock Exchange.