| Airline: | US Airways Express |
| Founded: | |
| Commenced: | |
| Ceased: | |
| Frequent Flyer: | Dividend Miles |
US Airways Express was the brand name for the regional affiliate of US Airways, under which a number of individually owned commuter air carriers and regional airlines operate short and medium haul routes. This code sharing service was previously operated as USAir Express. Mainline carriers often outsource to regional airlines to operate services in order to increase frequency, serve routes that would not sustain larger aircraft, or for other competitive reasons. US Airways Express operations were conducted from smaller markets in the United States, Canada, and the Bahamas primarily centered on US Airways' major hubs and focus cities.
Upon the completion of US Airways' merger process with American Airlines, US Airways Express was rebranded as American Eagle on October 17, 2015.[1]
US Airways Express traced its beginnings to 1967, when Henson Airlines began operating as Allegheny Commuter, a feeder carrier for Allegheny Airlines, predecessor to US Airways. The initial route was Baltimore-Hagerstown.[2] This is generally credited as the industry's first codeshare agreement and the first major airline to use another airline as its commuter partner.[3]
Throughout the 1970s, many other commuter airlines would join the Allegheny Commuter system providing feeder service from small communities for Allegheny Airlines. Allegheny Airlines was changed to USAir in 1979 however the feeder network still carried the name of Allegheny Commuter until 1989 when it was changed to USAir Express. In 1997 USAir changed its name again to US Airways at which time the feeder network became US Airways Express.
Two major carriers that merged into USAir in the late 1980s, Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) and Piedmont Airlines (1948-1989) had their corporate names retained to protect their trademarks. Henson Airlines later took on the name Piedmont Airlines and another USAir Express carrier, Jetstream International took on the name of PSA Airlines. The aircraft and other characteristics of the rebranded regional carriers bear no relation to their namesakes however many of the routes of Piedmont Airlines are former routes of the original Piedmont Airlines.
The aircraft livery of US Airways Express aircraft was identical to US Airways' mainline colors except for the word Express, which is attached to the basic US Airways livery.
In April 2013, an internal memo distributed to American Eagle employees at American Airlines Group's subsidiaries: (OW) Executive Airlines and American Eagle; indicated the US Airways Express banner and marketing brand, were expected to be discontinued although the remaining and independently operating airline subsidiaries, were expected to continue but operated with American Eagle branded colors.[4]
| Airline | IATA Service | ICAO Code | Callsign | Aircraft | In fleet | Passengers | Parent | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F | Y | Total | ||||||||
| Air Wisconsin | ZW | AWI | Wisconsin | Bombardier CRJ200 | 67 | – | 50 | 50 | CJT Holdings | |
| Mesa Airlines | YV | ASH | Air Shuttle | Bombardier CRJ900 | 47 | 9 | 70 | 79 | Mesa Air Group | |
| 6 | 76 | |||||||||
| Piedmont Airlines | PT | PDT | Piedmont | Dash 8-100 | 30 | – | 37 | 37 | US Airways Group | |
| Dash 8-300 | 11 | – | 50 | 50 | ||||||
| PSA Airlines | OH | JIA | Blue Streak | Bombardier CRJ200 | 35 | – | 50 | 50 | ||
| Bombardier CRJ700 | 14 | 9 | 58 | 67 | ||||||
| Republic Airways | YX | RPA | Brickyard | Embraer 170 | 17 | 9 | 60 | 69 | Republic Airways Holdings | |
| Embraer 175 | 38 | 8 | 72 | 80 | ||||||
| SkyWest Airlines | OO | SKW | SkyWest | Bombardier CRJ200 | 12 | – | 50 | 50 | SkyWest, Inc. | |
| Bombardier CRJ900 | 4 | 6 | 70 | 76 | ||||||
| Trans States Airlines | AX | LOF | Waterski | Embraer ERJ 145 | 1 | – | 50 | 50 | Trans States Holdings | |
| Total | 276 | |||||||||
The US Airways Express brand, through its various regional and commuter airline partners, operated a variety of twinges aircraft over the years including the following types:
The US Airways Express brand, through its various regional and commuter airline partners, operated a variety of twin turboprop aircraft over the years including the following types: