Chances are that you’ve never heard of America West Airlines. Chances are that you have heard of what it later went by: US Airways. Before that, America West was one of the largest airlines in the world!
Only a few years after its formation, America West Airlines became a major US airline. So why did it change its name? How was it different from US Airways? What legacy did the airline leave on the industry?
Pre-Formation
The 1960’s and 1970’s had proven to be a relatively good time for airlines. Deregulation led to lower prices, better service and as such, more people were flying than ever before!
In 1960, a young Ed Beauvais was given a senior accountancy job at Frontier Airlines. In 1963, he then took an accountancy job at Bonanza Airlines, which landed him in Phoenix, Arizona.
In 1968, Bonanza merged with West Coast Airlines to become Air West, which Howard Hughes took control of, in 1970. Following the Hughes takeover, Ed Beauvais decided to leave Air West.
With this, he decided to establish Beauvais, Robert and Kurth, which soon became one of the largest aviation consulting firms. At its height, its clients included Allegheny Airlines, United, Frontier, Southwest and Continental.
The early 1980’s looked as though they too were going to prove to be especially lucrative for airlines. With this, and Beauvais’ knowledge of the industry, he decided that establishing an airline would be a good venture.
Throughout 1980 and the first month of 1981, Beauvais planned his airline’s grand opening. He secured leases for three 737-100s, landing slots for these aircraft at Phoenix and looked at other routes.
Formation
By February 1981, Ed Beauvais had established his airline, which he called “America West Airlines”. He would serve as the airline’s first CEO, serving in this capacity from 1981 until 1991.
Pending review by regulators and the FAA, as well as being granted callsigns, ICAO and IATA airline designators, the airline first commenced operations in August 1983.
Using Beauvais’ knowledge of the industry, America West expanded rapidly between 1983 and 1984. By the end of 1983, America West had a fleet of 11 737-100s flying between 13 cities mostly in the south, midwest and southwest.
By 1984, America West had a fleet of 21 737-100s and 737-200s, flying between 23 cities. By June that same year, America West had 71 scheduled flights each week, in and out of Phoenix.
Soon after, America West began building their secondary hub at Las Vegas, with their primary hub (Phoenix) also receiving renovations. In 1985, Phoenix and Sky Habor constructed Terminal 4 for America West.
In 1986, America West purchased other aircraft, including DHC Dash 8s and 757-200s from Northwest Airlines. These continued to help the airline to expand into new markets that it otherwise wouldn’t be able to.
The Problem
However, the airline was not as stable as many had believed it to be. As with most other airlines, America West Airlines was more often than not, running at a substantial loss.
This facilitated the airline’s need to borrow heavily from banks in order to stay afloat. However, the reason for the airline’s financial instability wasn’t due to poor management or not being competitive enough.
Instead, it was actually due to the airlines success. The success led to the airline becoming overconfident with itself and expanding its operations without consolidating the positions it already had.
This caused a systematic failure of the airline almost in its entirety. By 1986, it looked as though the airline was about to go bankrupt. The airline was also forced to renegotiate its lease on Terminal 4, operating only 28 of the 84 gates.
Things were made worse for America West in 1988, when their head of operations, chief of pilots and a long-standing captain with the airline all pleaded guilty to narcotics trafficking.
This dealt a serious blow to the airline’s reputation. It also derailed several bailouts and potential buyouts from other airlines due to this negative press.
Purchase
In June 1987, Ansett Transport Industries (parent company of Ansett Australia) decided to try to save the airline. This was in the hopes of gaining a permanent foothold in the US airline industry to compliment the Australian one.
As such, in June 1987, Ansett Transport Industries bought 20% of America West Airlines from Ed Beauvais. By April 1991, Ansett had decided to increase that stake to 26%, buying the other 6% from Beauvais again.
This singlehandedly saved the airline from bankruptcy, twice.
Bankruptcy
Despite Ansett’s intervention and capital injection, America West Airlines entered bankruptcy in 1991, however remained operational throughout this time.
In 1991, the Gulf War happened, causing a temporary fuel shortage. All over the world, airlines and gas stations could no longer operate due to simply having no fuel. This ground the aviation industry to a halt.
This also caused America West to have no income to pay off it creditors. And as such, America West was forced to enter bankruptcy protection.
Bankruptcy also saw the airline’s founder, Ed Beauvais ousted as CEO and replaced by Mike Conway in 1991. By the end of bankruptcy, Conway too was ousted, in favor of A. Maurice Myers in 1994.
As if things weren’t bad enough for America West, their flight attendants unionized, demanding their wages to be increased. (America West had been paying their employees a lot less than other airlines, including Southwest, were).
Reorganization
In 1994, America West was able to come out of bankruptcy protection. As the economy had improved and more people had began flying, airlines had more money.
A partnership was formed between Mesa Airlines and Continental Airlines to save America West Airlines. In exchange for saving the airline, a large portion of the airline would be owned by Mesa and Continental.
Both Mesa and Continental placed code-sharing agreements between themselves and America West, combining their frequent flyer programs into one (along with other airlines).
The airlines also agreed that the America West brand name had been severely damaged over the years. As such, a new logo, livery and E-tickets (courtesy of Morris Air’s Stuart Thatcher) were all implemented.
Mesa Airlines and Chautauqua Airlines began operating regional flights for America West, operating as America West Express. These flights were carried out with aircraft in America West livery, but owned by Mesa or Chautauqua.
In late 2001, following the devastating 9/11 attacks, America West was one of the first airlines to apply and receive a $300 million loan from the Air Transportation Stabilization Board.
This loan prevented America West from going bankrupt once again.
US Airways-America West Airlines Merger
In 2005, US Airways filed for bankruptcy protection, due to an inability to pay off its debts. In the second quarter of 2005, a now-financial sound America West announced that they were entering talks about a merger.
The deal was fairly confusing. It stated that US Airways would be bought out by America West Holdings (parent company of America West Airlines) with the two airlines being merged.
Part of the deal also talked about how all US Airways operations would be taken over by America West. However, due to the America West brand being irreparably damaged, America West would operate under the US Airways brand.
The merger similarly saw much of the US Airways infrastructure being left intact. Instead of moving on to the America West system, much of it was instead moved to the US Airways system.
Despite this, the “new” US Airways continued to operate using America West’s ICAO, IATA airline designations as well as their callsign. These were all retired when US Airways merged with American Airlines.
Although both airlines were now legally one, many flights continued to operate in the old US Airways and America West liveries throughout much of 2005.
However, as a part of the merger, all of the aircraft received a new livery. The US Airways brand was reinvented, with both a new logo and livery being designed and implemented by 2006.
How Safe Was America West Airlines?
In general, as with most other major airlines, America West Airlines was one of the safest airlines in the world. In its 24 year history, the airline only had four crashes, making it one of the safest airlines of its day.
America West was founded in 1981, commencing operations in 1983. After commencing operations in 1983, the first crash wasn’t until December 1989. This crash, as with the others was due to unpredictable chain reactions causing the crash.
However, the airline’s third incident was particularly memorable- the pilots attempted to fly the aircraft whilst heavily intoxicated. As can be expected, this was heavily reported all around the country, with the airline suffering a loss of reputation.
In terms of the aircraft the airline operated, the airline mostly operated the safest aircraft in the world. However, quite memorably, in the airline’s beginning, the airline operated the 737-200, one of the most dangerous aircraft in history.
What Was it Like to Fly on America West Airlines?
I was actually able to interview two people about America West Airlines. One who flew on it at their height and the other who flew on it during the period of reorganization.
For the one who flew on America West during its height, he had this to say about the airline:
In many ways it was just like any other airline of its time. The service was the industry standard, the flight was smooth, the entertainment was good for the era. The food was a little below standard in my opinion (but that’s just me!)
However, the airline stood out in one major way to me: comfort. Whilst legroom was similar to other airlines its size, the seats were a lot comfier in my opinion- they were leather that was fairly good quality.
For the one who flew on America West during reorganization, he had this to say about the airline:
During reorganization, there wasn’t much different from how things had been before the bankruptcy. The seats, service, food, entertainment and staff were all pretty much the same as they had been before.
However, after reorganization, when America West merged into US Airways, everything began to change. The seats were different, the service was marginally better (as was the food). Everything was better.
Legacy
Despite no longer operating, America West Airlines has left its mark on both the company that would come after it, as well as the airline industry as a whole!
US Airways
Following the reorganization, America West officially merged with US Airways. All of America West’s former aircraft, routes, employees, management and hubs, all transferred to US Airways seemingly overnight.
As such, the newly merged US Airways took the best parts of America West- the service, the smooth flying and the good entertainment among others and kept them the same.
In terms of the “worst” aspects of America West- the food in particular, US Airways began to make them better. Plus, they now had a fresh start from the ridiculed America West brand, which made advertising a lot easier.
Airline Industry
After American and US Airways merged in 2015, many US Airways employees became American Airlines employees. Many people who were junior pilots for America West, are now high up management for American.
When US Airways merged with American, many of their higher ups joined forces in the boardroom. Many of these US Airways higher ups had been taught by the first generation of America West higher ups.
Many of the tricks that they pioneered at America West have since become staples for American. After the merger, some higher ups were made redundant, many of these now work for Delta, Southwest and United respectively.
Did you ever fly on America West Airlines? What were your thoughts on it? Tell me in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of Aero Icarus via Flickr.