When the first US Airways flight took off in 1939, the airline was called All American Aviation, a regional flier based in Pennsylvania. It grew into Allegheny Airlines, and a few acquisitions later changed its name to USAir in 1979. The last US Airways flight, nostalgically numbered Flight 1939, takes off from Philadelphia on Friday morning, travels to Charlotte, then to Phoenix, and finally to San Francisco, before returning to Philly. All those cities have special significance for the airline, purchased by American Airlines in 2013, and when Flight 1939 lands in Philly on Friday night, US Airways is officially kaput.
"We definitely wanted to give a nod to US Airways and everyone that helped us build this airline," American spokeswoman Martha Thomas told USA Today. "We wanted to make it a special experience for employees and customers." On Saturday, US Airways' reservation system and website will go dark, hopefully transitioning over to American's system, and its signage will be taken down at airports nationwide. The final flight will be full almost entirely of aviation enthusiasts and "avgeeks," according to American spokesman Ross Feinstein, but if you are feeling nostalgic and can't make Friday's flight, don't worry: The paint jobs on the aircraft and the flight attendant uniforms will stick around until sometime in 2016, regardless of what your ticket says.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
July 8 editorial cartoonsCartoons Tuesday's political cartoons include a Trump disappearing act, trade talk uncertainty, and Elon Musk's many injuries
-
Entente cordiale: will state visit help UK-French relations get over Brexit?Today's Big Question The King, a keen Francophile who has a warm relationship with Emmanuel Macron, will play a key role in state visit
-
Israel's plan for confining all Palestinians in 'humanitarian city'The Explainer Defence minister wants to establish zone in Gaza for displaced people – which they would not be allowed to leave – prompting accusations of war crimes
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutinySpeed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress codespeed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirementspeed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
-
Trump calls Amazon's Bezos over tariff displaySpeed Read The president was not happy with reports that Amazon would list the added cost from tariffs alongside product prices
-
Markets notch worst quarter in years as new tariffs loomSpeed Read The S&P 500 is on track for its worst month since 2022 as investors brace for Trump's tariffs
-
Tesla Cybertrucks recalled over dislodging panelsSpeed Read Almost every Cybertruck in the US has been recalled over a stainless steel panel that could fall off
