US Airways will make its final flight on Friday as the
carrier's slow merger with American Airlines is completed. But expect to see
planes stamped with the US Airways emblem soaring the skies for another few months.
So far, said an American Airlines spokesman, about half of
US Airways' mainline fleet has been repainted with the American livery. The
remainder will be finished by mid-2016.
US Airways Express planes will all be repainted by the end of 2016.
Friday's final US Airways flight comes 22 months after its
merger with American was finalized. US Airways Flight 1939 is scheduled to
depart from San Francisco at 9:55 p.m. Pacific time on Oct. 16 and arrive in
Philadelphia at 6:18 a.m. Eastern the following morning. The flight number
commemorates the founding of US Airways' predecessor, All American Aviation, in
1939. The Pittsburgh-based company originally carried mail only, and was renamed
All American Airways when it started passenger service in 1949. The airline became
Allegheny Airlines in 1952, USAir in 1979 and US Airways in 1996.
The formal end of US Airways means that beginning at
midnight on Friday, all of its former routes will be coded as American Airlines
flights. In addition, the US Airways website will shut down.