Changeover from AmWest to US Airways won’t be instant

Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005 | 10:57 a.m.

McCarran International Airport's second-largest passenger carrier -- America West Airlines -- officially becomes US Airways tomorrow, but it's going to take a few months before the transition is complete.

The two airlines cleared the last hurdles in their bid to merge last week and airline officials said Wednesday is the official date the transition begins.

For now, passengers ticketed on America West should continue to go to that airline's ticket counter and gates and US Airways fliers should go to that airline's counters and gates.

US Airways' counter is on the north end of a row of ticket counters at the airport and the airline uses McCarran's D gates. America West's counters are just to the south of the midpoint of the row and the airline uses the A and B gates.

Eventually, said Rosemary Vassiliadis, deputy director of the Clark County Department of Aviation, the merged airline would have one counter and flights likely would arrive and depart from the A and B gates.

"We don't want to exasperate travelers," Vassiliadis said. "They (the airlines) have a couple of flights that overlap each other. Right now, we're making sure that they have available gating and there are no delays. Once that gets resolved, we'll move them over accordingly."

Vassiliadis said McCarran officials are optimistic that the transition can be completed by the end of the year.

"We're working furiously on it," she said. "We plan to get an information sheet out to taxi drivers to make sure passengers are delivered to the right location."

The merger, first announced in May, will join more than 30,000 US Airways and 14,000 America West workers, including more than 1,000 based in Las Vegas. America West currently has 145 jet and America West Express commuter flights each day to and from McCarran while US Airways has nine.

The merged airline will be known as US Airways. The blended fleet of more than 400 aircraft eventually will be painted with a new color scheme, with four themed aircraft designed to pay tribute to the four airlines that, through mergers and acquisitions, became US Airways.

America West, which operates a hub at McCarran, and America West Express have flights to 73 destinations from Las Vegas, while US Airways flies nonstop to and from its Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Charlotte, N.C. hubs.

America West officials said passengers can continue to use the two airlines' Internet sites -- www.americawest.com and www.usairways.com -- and their respective reservation numbers. Eventually, those, too, will be blended.

McCarran's SpeedCheck computerized ticketing kiosks include both airlines and airline officials said online check-in is still available 24 hours before flight time.

Customers enrolled in either company's frequent-flier programs will have their miles honored by the merged company and persons enrolled in both programs will have their miles added together in the weeks ahead.