US Airways Expands Washington D.C. Service

TEMPE, Ariz., Jan. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- US Airways (NYSE: LCC) announced today that it will expand service for customers by starting service to 11 new destinations and adding flights to three existing destinations at Reagan National Airport following the closing of its slot transaction agreement with Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL).  Eight of the 11 new communities that the airline will serve currently have no service to Washington's downtown airport. The new flights, which begin March 25, are the next step in US Airways' plan to focus on its core service areas of Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Phoenix and Charlotte, N.C.

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"We are excited to expand our service to customers traveling to and from our nation's capital as well as increase jobs at Washington National Airport," said US Airways Chairman and CEO Doug Parker. "When our expansion is completed, US Airways will offer more than 230 daily flights and directly support more than 1,500 aviation jobs at Washington National."

The final phase of the airline's plan to focus on its core service areas starts July 11, 2012 and will add more new routes from Washington, which will be announced in February. To support the expanded service, US Airways will add more gates at Reagan National, build a second US Airways Club conveniently located near its new departure gates, and will hire approximately 125 airport customer service and fleet service employees.

Washington, D.C. Expansion

In the first phase of its expansion at Washington, US Airways will add the following new flights, which begin March 25:

• Nonstop, daily flights to Birmingham, Ala.; Fayetteville, N.C.; Islip, N.Y.; Little Rock, Ark.; Jacksonville, N.C.; Pensacola, Fla.; Tallahassee, Fla. and Ft. Walton Beach, Fla. These destinations currently have no existing service from Reagan National.
• New service will also be added to Memphis, Tenn.; Omaha, Neb. and Ottawa, Ontario.  These communities are currently served by other carriers at Reagan National.
• Daily flights will be added to Bangor, Maine and Savannah, Ga., which US Airways currently serves on weekends.
• A daily nonstop frequency will be added to Hartford, Conn.

At New York's LaGuardia Airport, US Airways will operate a reduced schedule over current levels. It will remain the third largest carrier at the airport, offering customers 65 daily weekday flights. The airline will continue to operate its popular hourly dual-class Shuttle service to Washington and Boston, and high-frequency service to its Charlotte and Philadelphia hubs. US Airways will also continue to serve Pittsburgh and its Phoenix hub from LaGuardia. All US Airways flights will continue to arrive and depart from Terminal C, where the airline will build a new, state-of-the-art 3,500 square foot US Airways Club that will be completed this spring.

Once both phases of the transition are complete, 99 percent of the airline's available seat miles (ASMs) will operate to or from its core service areas and US Airways Shuttle.  This represents a 16 percentage point change from 2006, when, following the merger of US Airways and America West Airlines, only 83 percent of the airline's ASMs touched its core focus areas and US Airways Shuttle.

About US Airways

US Airways, along with US Airways Shuttle and US Airways Express, operates more than 3,000 flights per day and serves more than 200 communities in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Central and South America. The airline employs more than 32,000 aviation professionals worldwide and is a member of the Star Alliance network, which offers its customers more than 21,000 daily flights to 1,290 airports in 189 countries. Together with its US Airways Express partners, the airline serves approximately 80 million passengers each year and operates hubs in Charlotte, N.C., Philadelphia and Phoenix, and a focus city in Washington, D.C. at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. US Airways was the only airline included as one of the 50 best companies to work for in the U.S. by LATINA Style magazine's 50 Report for 2010 and 2011. For six years in a row, the airline also earned a 100 percent rating on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality index. The Corporate Equality index is a leading indicator of companies' attitudes and policies toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees and customers. US Airways also ranked #1 among its competing hub-and-spoke network carriers for 2010 performance as rated by the Wichita State University/Purdue University Airline Quality Rating (AQR). For more company information visit usairways.com, follow on Twitter @USAirways or at Facebook.com/USAirways.  (LCCG)

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