Airways

SO LONG, US Airways. Now that the nation's seventh-largest air carrier has filed for bankruptcy protection a second time in as many years, many industry watchers give it only a few months before it liquidates. Even David G. Bronner recently predicted it wouldn't be saved from Chapter 11, and he ought to know - he's the airline's chairman. But while most of the pundits are fixated on the reasons for US Airways' likely demise, one question has gone largely unasked: Who is going to pay for this failure?

For the first time in nearly two decades, Southwest Airlines, the biggest commercial carrier at BWI, does not sit atop the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index. The top spot was claimed by JetBlue Airways, with a satisfaction score of 81 on a 100-point scale. Southwest scored 77, its lowest mark in five years. The index has been tracking American consumer satisfaction since 1994. It is compiled after interviews with about 80,000 people on a range of products and services.

As Sherman Adams proved during the Eisenhower era, even the flintiest of New Englanders can succumb to the allure of the White House ego trip. The victim this time is the president's chief of staff, John Sununu, who has taken 77 flights on Air Force jets at a cost to the taxpayers of half a million dollars in pursuit of official and not-so-official matters.The first thing to understand about this inside-the-beltway scandal is that someone (perhaps even someone in the White House) had to rat on Mr. Sununu, who proudly is not one of Washington's more lovable characters.

OneMain Financial branch event supports local food bank OneMain Financial's replica race car will be on display Thursday, Sept. 22 from noon to 6 p.m. at 14196 Baltimore Ave. In addition to the display of OneMain Racing's No. 2 Chevrolet Impala show car, food and beverages will be served. Visitors are asked to bring canned goods to donate to the Capital Area Food Bank. Tower Federal Credit Union hosts fundraiser for cancer research and prevention Employees of Tower Federal Credit Union's headquarters in Laurel raised $1,160 after hosting an employee-based fundraiser of ice cream sales and an iPad raffle.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. government said it needs another 30 days to decide whether a proposed marketing alliance between UAL Corp.'s United Airlines and US Airways Group Inc. would reduce competition. UAL and US Airways, the second- and seventh-largest U.S. carriers, failed to win approval for a merger last year. The two airlines, neither of which is profitable, told the Department of Transportation on July 25 that they plan to sell tickets for each other's flights to help increase revenue.

ARLINGTON, Va. -- US Airways Group Inc. said yesterday that it will buy back preferred stock from British Airways PLC in a transaction valued at $126.2 million, a sign of renewed financial strength at the once-struggling U.S. airline.The buyback is a big step toward ending the three-year partnership between the sixth-ranked U.S. airline and Britain's largest air carrier, an alliance that went sour when British Airways jilted US Airways for rival AMR Corp. last year. The shares in the buyback represent about 26 percent of British Airways' holdings of preferred stock in US Airways.

OMAHA, Neb. -- Stephen M. Wolf, chief executive of US Airways Group Inc., is capable of reversing the fortunes of the troubled airline, one of its major investors said yesterday.Warren E. Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, a major investor in US Airways, gave his optimistic assessment of Wolf at the holding company's annual meeting.His view was somewhat of a turnaround. Yesterday he characterized as a mistake Hathaway's initial investment in US Airways in 1989."I made a mistake getting into [US Airways]

WASHINGTON - The Senate commerce committee passed a resolution yesterday opposing United Airlines parent UAL Corp.'s $11.6 billion plan to buy US Airways Group Inc. because of concern that it could spark more acquisitions among carriers. The nonbinding legislation calls the combination "inconsistent with the public interest" and said it would force rivals such as AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, the second-largest U.S. airline, to make its own purchase. United, the world's largest airline, and US Airways, the sixth largest domestic carrier, together would deter the start-up of carriers that could provide competition, the resolution said.

After months of negotiating for Boeing 777 jets, US Airways has suddenly changed course and told the manufacturer that it's no longer interested in the planes, aviation sources say.Instead, US Airways will talk with Boeing about 767 jets, smaller planes with less range, and will continue talking with Airbus Industrie about the A330. Sources said yesterday that US Airways had determined that the Boeing 777 was "too much airplane" and "too big" for the markets it wants to serve.Neither the airline nor pilots' union officials would comment on the change in the airline's negotiating strategy.

US Airways Group Inc. will join United Airlines in charging some passengers $25 to check a second piece of luggage, helping counter higher fuel costs. The charge, which will apply to coach-cabin passengers who are not among US Airways' most frequent fliers, is expected to generate $75 million a year in added revenue and savings, US Airways said. The carrier will start assessing the fee May 5. The shift follows US Airways' projection for a first-quarter loss because of rising fuel prices and slowing demand.

It didn't quite measure up to making an emergency landing in the middle of the Hudson River, but as Harvey White stood beside the 120-foot chunk of airplane on a ramp off Interstate 95 near Perryville on Monday, he felt a sense of conquest. White, a resident of Rising Sun, and his wife, Ruth, had spent an hour and a half in their SUV trying to track down a unique procession: a caravan of 35 vehicles accompanying the fuselage of the US Airways plane that splash-landed in January 2009.

Ever since a friend snagged a $200 round-trip ticket to Paris, including taxes and the like, I've been decidedly unexcited by the typical airline promotional deals. (I've also been green with envy.) But yesterday when Travelzoo sent info about a British Airways sale offering $150 off the lowest published fare for flights anywhere in the world, I felt a little tingle in my leg. The 96-hour sale - for travel April 15-June 11 - boasted flights from Baltimore starting at $226 each way, after the discount.

- Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger has flown his final flight. The pilot who landed a US Airways plane safely on the Hudson River last January said Wednesday he is retiring after 30 years and plans to spend some of his time pressing for more flight safety. "My message going forward is that I want to remind everyone in the aviation industry - especially those who manage aviation companies and those who regulate aviation - that we owe it to our passengers to keep learning how to do it better," he said at a news conference shortly after his last flight landed at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

What's the deal? British Airways has a promotion to entice people to sign up for a new Visa Signature affinity credit card. First-time cardholders with new accounts will earn 50,000 miles with their first purchase and another 50,000 miles for spending $2,000 in the first three months after the account is opened. That's 100,000 miles, enough for two coach round-trip tickets or one business-class round trip to parts of Europe, including Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the U.K. You also can redeem miles for flights on codeshare partner American within the continental U.S., and to Canada, Hawaii and Mexico.

AirTran Airways is looking to make Baltimore a major stop in its flight plan and moved a little further in that direction Tuesday by adding daily flights to New Orleans and Indianapolis. They were the latest of a number of new flights the airline has announced will come to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. In December and February, it will begin flights to the Caribbean, including to Nassau, Bahamas, and Montego Bay, Jamaica. For the first time this year, it will also begin operating flights to Los Angeles year round instead of seasonally.

When swine flu broke out a couple weeks ago, several airlines offered travel waivers. US Airways was first out of the gate with an offer to jettison change fees for passengers who wanted to avoid Mexico. The airline seemed to recognize, hours before media hopped on the flu hoopla, that this was going to be an issue for travelers. But in its hurry, US Airways overlooked the details of its response. While the airline offered waiving the change fee and advance ticketing requirements, it mandated that travelers take the rescheduled trip within 14 days of the original flight.

US Airways said yesterday that it has arranged $404 million in financing and will end the year with more than $1 billion in cash, which could help it survive the airline industry's continuing financial crisis. Sources said the financing was provided by GE Capital, the financing arm of General Electric Co. The deal involved buying airplanes and engines owned by US Airways, then leasing them back to the airline. US Airways announced the financing arrangement after the stock market closed.

IF REMARRIAGE is the triumph of hope over experience, as Samuel Johnson alleged, what do we make of the engagement of America West to US Airways, which has participated in almost as much botched matrimony as Larry King? US Airways took the wonderful Piedmont Aviation and turned it into the Department of Motor Vehicles. The Piedmont deal, together with the acquisition of Pacific Southwest Airlines, set the stage for US Airways to lose money for years. U.S. Airways dated and broke up with British Airways.

The pilot and crew of US Airways Flight 1549 - the "Miracle on the Hudson" heroes - were making the media rounds last week, from 60 Minutes to Larry King Live to New York City, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave the pilot the keys to the city. They certainly deserve it. But while the crew has been in the spotlight, their employer has quietly added yet another new fee for their passengers. One we certainly don't deserve. Tomorrow, US Airways will begin charging fliers $7 for a pillow and blanket.

DANVILLE, Calif. - Thousands filled the Town Green here yesterday to honor their hometown hero, US Airways pilot Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, whose emergency landing in an icy river last week was credited with saving the lives of all 155 people on board. In a bunting-and-flag-filled demonstration of civic pride, Danville Mayor Newell Arnerich presented Sullenberger with a key to the town, an upscale, family-oriented San Francisco Bay Area suburb known for its good schools, low crime rate and expensive real estate.