Us Airways History

1.0: Pre-Deregulation

US Airways began, in the mid 1930s, calling itself All American Aviation. It began service as an airmail carrier, supplying service to many small western Pennsylvania and Ohio Valley communities. Then, in 1949 All American Aviation changed its name to All American Airways; with the change of name the airline also changed direction in terms of the service it offered. The airline is able to focus on passenger service with the introduction of the DC-3. The airlines’ route system continues to grow, and in 1953 it changes its name again, this time to Allegheny Airlines.

In 1965, Allegheny Airlines began purchasing the turbine-powered Convair 580. One year later, the airline decided to purchase a DC9-10, and was replaced in 1967 by a DC9-30, which would eventually go on to form most of Allegheny’s fleet. That same year, Allegheny began commuter service Hagerstown, MD and Baltimore/Washington International Airport, which was run by Henson Aviation, forerunner of Piedmont Airlines. The introduction of this commuter service, and the use of regional airlines like Henson was just the beginning; today US Airways’ network includes 10 regional airlines that provide US Airways Express service to 172 cities throughout the nation (http://www.usairways.com).

Although retaining its name, in 1968 Allegheny merged with Lake Central Airlines. This merger allowed the airline to expand its route network further, from Pittsburgh, to encompass the Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and St. Louis. A few years later, in 1972, Allegheny acquired Mohawk Airlines. Mohawk airline served cities throughout New York and New England. Furthermore, with this merger, in addition to the added route network expansion, Allegheny also acquired Mohawk's BAC-1-11 jets. With these additions, Allegheny becomes the sixth largest airline in the world in terms of passenger boarding’s (http://www.usairways.com).

In 1978, arguably one of the largest events in the airline industry takes place, with the deregulation of the industry. With this, airlines have the freedom to expand route systems, and they also have the flexibility to develop new pricing structures; unfortunately, the industry also looses the protection of the Civil Aeronautics Board. Just like that a new industry is born.

2.0: Post-Deregulation through 1996

With the ushering in of a new industry via deregulation, Allegheny decided to yet again change its name, and in 1979 it became USAir. The company did so in order to express its ever expanding route network, which by post deregulation stretched to include: Arizona, Texas, Colorado, and Florida.