Allegheny Airlines: The Airline That Became US Airways

Chances are, that you have never heard of Allegheny Airlines. However, a quick Google search will tell you that Allegheny was the airline that became the prominent US Airways.

But what was so special about Allegheny? How exactly was it different from US Airways? What impact has it left on the industry? And if it was so successful, why is it now known as US Airways?

Pre-Formation

Throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s, commercial air transportation began to take off. Many entrepreneurs established their own airline, many of which are now some of the oldest airlines in the world, and became rich!

However, many more failed, and left their owners penniless. Despite this, two brothers from the prominent industrial du Pont family, decided to try and establish an airline that would become the largest in the world!

The brothers, Richard C. du Pont and Alexis Felix du Pont, Jr. had previously been involved in other aviation ventures.

Alexis, the older of the two brothers, had joined the US Army Air Corps, obtaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Following this, he had become a test pilot for the Fokker Aviation Company, testing many of their early aircraft.

The younger of the two, Richard, had previously been heavily involved with gliders. In 1933, he’d established a seaplane and glider manufacturer, which was later absorbed into the family company and divested years later.

Using the knowledge and passion for the aviation industry, the brothers decided to found their own airline. In March 1939, the brothers established the All American Aviation Company, an air mail airline.

The brothers heavily used their du Pont money in order to get the airline off the ground initially. Soon after, the airline began to make its own profit, both from the local government (subsidies) and from private individuals.

Formation

As with many other airlines at the time, Allegheny began to realize that whilst air mail was profitable, transporting people was even more profitable! The result was that Allegheny began to research this.

By 1949, they realized it was viable and more profitable to transport mail and people, rather than just mail. To reflect this change, the brothers decided to change the name to All American Airways.

In 1946, All American Airways began using Allegheny County Airport as their primary hub. Six years later, in 1952, All American Airways rebranded itself as Allegheny Airlines, to reflect its mostly regional routes.

In 1951, Allegheny expanded beyond Allegheny County Airport, and began using Pittsburgh International Airport as their primary hub. This would serve as Allegheny’s main hub until rebranding as US Airways.

Throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s, the US Government subsidized all air routes, including Allegheny’s. 1962 was the best year for Allegheny (up until that point), with the airline making $23.5 million, with $6.5 million being a subsidy.

In 1960, Allegheny moved their main headquarters from Arlington, Virginia to Washington, DC. This would remain as Allegheny’s, and later US Airways’ main HQ until the America West Airlines-US Airways merger in 2005.

Expansion

The 1960′ proved to be one of Allegheny’s best decades. Allegheny expanded out of Pennsylvania and into nearby states. By the end of the 1960’s, Allegheny had an extensive network across the Northeastern United States.

In 1965, Allegheny Airlines took possession of several DC-9-10, DC-9-30 and DC-9-50s. This was only a few months after Mohawk Airlines had taken possession of 24 BAC One-Elevens.

1966 saw the retirement of their DC-3 fleet, which had served since the end of WWII. The majority of the former DC-3 routes were taken over by Convair 540s and license-built Fokker F-27s (Fairchild F-27Js).

In 1967, Allegheny got its first international route, flying to Toronto, Canada. Over time, this turned out to be Allegheny’s most profitably route. This set off a chain reaction that would one day lead to US Airways.

July 1968 saw Allegheny’s first merger, merging with Lake Central Airlines. This saw the Nord 262 regional airliner enter Allegheny’s fleet. The merger also added Chicago and St Louis to Allegheny’s destinations.

In April 1972, the aforementioned Mohawk Airlines was on its knees. Allegheny merged with Mohawk, adding a fleet of BAC 1-11s to the fleet as well as Montreal, Minneapolis and Albany destinations.

Problem

By merging with both Lake Central and Mohawk Airlines, Allegheny had expanded beyond the Northeastern United States. Now, they were an international airline, flying several flights a week into several Canadian airports.

In order to further itself from its regional routes, Allegheny began to retire many of its solely-regional airliners, such as their Martin 2-0-2s and their Convair 540s.

To operate its regional routes, Allegheny began to create a network of feeder airlines similarly to how Mohawk Airlines had once been a feeder airline. These airlines would operate as Allegheny Commuter, often in Nord 262s.

The name Allegheny Airlines was also holding back its expansion in several different ways. Many people still believed they were getting a regional service for an international flight, often passing Allegheny over.

On top of all this, the US Government was considering de-regulating the airline industry, which would see airlines and airports able to set their own pricing. Not to mention, being able to create the three-class system we use today.

Whilst for many airlines, this was a relief, including many at Allegheny, there was a downside to it: subsidies. If de-regulation happened, subsidies would disappear potentially devastating airlines that relied on them.

Solution

In late 1978, Congress passed the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. This removed almost all government oversight on the airline and airport industries. However, this too removed the government subsidies.

As that was happening, Allegheny Airlines began to consider new names, one of which was USAir. In October 1979, Allegheny officially became USAir, with all remnants of Allegheny being relegated to the history books.

The only real reminder that Allegheny existed was the Allegheny Commuter network. USAir continued to own the trademark to the name Allegheny Airlines as well as operating the Allegheny Commuter network.

During the 1980’s, air shuttle businesses became fashionable, although not very profitable as a whole. Despite this, USAir purchased Trump Shuttle from Donald Trump in 1992, merging it into USAir Shuttle.

As Allegheny had hoped, the name change had resulted in more tickets being sold, which in turn, led to higher profit. People respected USAir as a major US carrier, rather than a regional airline.

Alongside that, de-regulation had also allowed USAir to become more profitable than ever before. USAir expanded its route network all over the United States, as well as internationally.

In 1989, when USAir rebranded as US Airways, the last remnants of Allegheny Airlines were truly gone. The Allegheny Commuter network was rebranded as US Airways Express and merged US Airways Shuttle (formerly USAir Shuttle) into it.

Today

Today US Airways is no more. In 2013, US Airways and American Airlines merged, with all US Airways aircraft having American Airlines liveries by 2016.

Most of the aircraft that had previously been operated by Allegheny Airlines had already been retired during USAir and/or US Airways service. However, the last airliners were retired following the merger.

Many of the formerly Allegheny routes have become core routes for American Airlines. With many of the original international routes (and most profitable routes) still being operated by American to this day!

In March 2019, American Airlines revealed a new special aircraft livery for one of their former US Airways A319s. This A319 is painted in a retro-Allegheny Airlines livery, as of the time of writing, it is still flying.

What Was it Like to Fly on Allegheny Airlines?

As always, I was able to interview several different people about their opinions whist flying on Allegheny Airlines, including the same person I Interviewed for my Western Airlines article.

He had this to say about flying on Allegheny Airlines:

On the surface of it, flying on Allegheny was unlike any other airline, just not in a good way. The aircraft weren’t opened up and spacious like they were on legacy carriers. But then again, Allegheny was a regional airline.

When you compared it with other regional airlines of the time, Allegheny was actually one of the better ones. Food and drinks were served more often, plus the seats were far comfier than their competitors.

For the aircraft that Allegheny absorbed from both Mohawk and Lake Central, they were redesigned for maximum profitability and comfort! Allegheny also made sure that passengers were comfortable at the airport too.

To me, it isn’t surprising that Allegheny, and later US Airways became so successful. They truly knew, and catered for, their customers. They knew that on certain routes, it was businessmen. On others, rich honeymooners.

How Safe Was Allegheny Airlines?

Between 1939 and 1959, Allegheny was known as one of the safest airlines in the world, having never once had a crash or any other type of incident. However, the late 1950’s and early 1960’s would prove to be a bad time in terms of crashes.

In 1959, poor weather conditions caused pilot disorientation. This resulted in the pilot flying the Martin 2-0-2 he was flying, into a mountain whilst on approach to Williamsport, Pennsylvania. There were 25 fatalities with only one survivor.

Throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s, a series of pilot error and aircraft failure crashes occurred, resulting in 158 fatalities and 158 serious injuries. Many of these made the evening news in the local area.

Perhaps the worst incident was when a Convair 440’s emergency exit door wasn’t locked properly. Once reaching cruising altitude, the door blew open causing explosive decompression, which sucked a flight attendant out.

The flight attendant subsequently fell to her death. This wasn’t just reported locally but also nationally, which resulted in Allegheny’s reputation being tarnished somewhat.

Just as with Mohawk and Lake Central Airlines, Allegheny operated a fleet of some of the most dangerous aircraft of its time. Whilst this wasn’t really known at the time, it could explain some of the crashes.

Legacy

Allegheny Airlines left its mark on almost all aspects of the industry, and the family that bankrolled it for so many years.

Du Pont Family

The du Ponts remained in control of Allegheny once it became USAir, and later US Airways. Throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s, the money generated by US Airways was funneled into their other businesses to help expand them.

When US Airways and American Airlines merged, the Du Ponts became a large shareholder in American Airlines. Today, many members of the family sit on the board of American Airlines, in various different capacities.

Following the success of their first aviation ventures- their glider manufacturer and Allegheny Airlines, the Du Ponts investing in other sectors of the aviation industry. Most notably, Piasecki Helicopter Corp in 1946.

Airline Industry

Many of the systems pioneered by Allegheny, or those that were merged in from Lake Central Airlines and later Mohawk Airlines, soon became used by US Airways.

Once US Airways merged with American Airlines, these systems were upgraded and integrated with the entire American Airlines fleet. Even today, things such as the simulator training, were taken from Allegheny!

Many of the junior pilots for Allegheny, who stayed with US Airways and now American Airlines, are now senior captains. Some of them are even high up executives at American Airlines!

Did you ever fly on Allegheny Airlines? If so, what was it like? Tell me in the comments!

Featured image courtesy of Piergiuliano Chesi via Wikimedia.