US Airways retires its last Boeing 737-400

US Airways has retired the last 737 from its pre-merger fleet.

The "Classic" 737-400 model made its final revenue flights for the carrier on Tuesday, FlightGlobal.com reports. The aircraft – tail number N435US – flew from Charlotte to Dallas/Fort Worth to Philadelphia before returning to Charlotte on its final passenger flight for the carrier. The flights operated as US Airways Flight 737.

Piedmont Airlines, which ultimately merged with US Air to become US Airways, was the launch customer for the 737-400, putting the jet into commercial passenger service in the fall of 1988.

American, which now includes US Airways as the airlines progress with their merger, confirmed the retirement of the 737 from US Airways' fleet.

"We're proud to have been the launch customer of the B737-400, which formed an integral part of the US Airways fleet over the years," American says in a statement to Today in the Sky. "American is focused on updating our fleet with hundreds of new planes and refreshing our existing aircraft to bring our customers a more modern, comfortable and connected experience."

American says it has added 53 new mainline aircraft and 18 new regional jets to its fleet so far in 2014.

The 737, of course, will continue to fly in the fleet of the "new" American. AA already had the popular Boeing aircraft in its fleet prior to the merger. And the carrier has more than 150 additional 737s on order.

As for the 737-400 retired by US Airways, its Tuesday flights also marked a milestone for US Airways Captain Jeff Tarr, who retired from the airline after flying the 737-400 on its final flight to Charlotte.

The only U.S. passenger airlines still flying the vintage "-400" model of the 737 on regularly schedule passenger service are Alaska Airlines and PEOPLExpress, FlightGlobal says, citing the Ascend Fleets database. Vision Airlines owns and operates the 737-400s that fly under the PEOPLExpress brand.

Gate C11 at Charlotte shows the departure information for US Airways' last Boeing 737-400 as it began its final day of service for the carrier.(Photo: American Airlines)

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JetBlue announces last of Reagan National additions

JetBlue Airways Corp., which inaugurated three new flights from Reagan National Airport Thursday, also announced the addition of two others, the final expansion JetBlue is allowed as part of post-merger divestitures by US Airways and American Airlines.

Beginning Dec. 18, JetBlue will offer seasonal flights to West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale from National.

IT has also previously announced a second daily flight to Tampa beginning July 2.

Thursday marked JetBlue’s first National flights to Charleston, South Carolina, Hartford, Connecticut, and Nassau, Bahamas.

By the end of the year, JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) will have a total of 30 daily nonstop flights from National Airport.

Slots American and US Airways were required to give up at National are also going to Virgin America, which will add another four daily flights, and Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), which is more than doubling its National Airport service to 44 daily flights.

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Dog Poo Forces Philly-Bound Flight to Make Emergency Landing

Twitter was abuzz Wednesday with pictures -- and complaints -- after a dog poo'd in the middle of a Philadelphia-bound flight, forcing an emergency landing.

Yes, you read right -- dog poop forced an emergency landing, according to passengers aboard US Airways Flight 598 from Los Angeles to Philadelphia. Those passengers took to Twitter to document the smelly ordeal.Passengers said that the large dog went to the bathroom in the plane's aisle as many as three times, making people nearby physically ill.

"The second time after the dog pooped they ran out of paper towels, they didn't have anything else. The pilot comes on the radio, ‘Hey, we have a situation in the back, we're going to have to emergency land,'" passenger Steve McCall told Inside Edition.

The plane was diverted to Kansas City, Missouri, where a cleaning crew cleaned the messes, before eventually making its way to Philadelphia, according to passengers.

The emergency landing wasn't the only headache for those travelers. Before takeoff, Flight 598 was delayed on the tarmac at LAX for two hours for fuel problems.

Micaela Connery @MicaelaConnery

Just gets worse @USAirways after being delayed 2 hours we get grounded because of dog poop on the plane. A 7 hour trip is now pushing 14.

2:10 AM - 29 May 2014 Philadelphia, PA, United States

Chris Law @ChrisLaw

Follow

I don't think the dog poop was initial issue, it was more the people around getting sick, a la when Chunk ralphed over the balcony #Goonies

9:10 PM - 28 May 2014

Chris Law @ChrisLaw

Follow

RECAP: 2hr delay Tarmac w low fuel. Fuel plane but in process spill 1,000 gallons on Tarmac. Delayed more. Dog defecates 3xs Emergency land

9:05 PM - 28 May 2014

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Drunk And ‘Unruly’ Passenger Attempted To Grope Women Aboard US Air Flight

A long delay for some passengers on-board an overnight US Air flight to London.

US Air flight 728 was already a half-hour late when it took off Tuesday night, heading from Philadelphia to London’s Heathrow Airport, but that 30 minute delay was nothing compared to what passengers were about to face.

The plane took off around 10:20 p.m., but just over an hour into the flight, passengers were told they were turning around due to an unruly passenger, who authorities say was drunk and attempting to grope women on the plane.

The plane got back to Philadelphia shortly after midnight, but it was too heavy to land, so it had to circle to burn fuel. It finally landed a little after 1 a.m.

The passenger was taken off the plane and into custody by federal authorities.

The plane did finally take off again just before 3 a.m.

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US Airways flight strikes bird shortly after takeoff, returns safely to New York City airport

A US Airways flight from New York City has struck a bird shortly after takeoff and returned to the airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration says Flight 2191 landed safely Friday night at LaGuardia Airport.

US Airways says the Airbus A319 had been headed for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport with 96 passengers and 5 crewmembers aboard. The airline says passengers were booked on other flights.

The FAA is investigating the bird strike, the second this week involving a LaGuardia flight. A United Airlines jet from Chicago struck a bird before landing safely at the airport Wednesday.

In March, a seagull put a hole in a JetBlue airliner's nose shortly after takeoff from Westchester County Airport, prompting an unscheduled landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

US Airways Group merged with American Airlines last year to form Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines Group Inc.

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US Airways announces codeshare with British Airways

US Airways announced Tuesday a code-sharing agreement with British Airways that includes the profitable trans-Atlantic routes.

US Airways is part of American Airlines Group (Nasdaq: AAL). Neither US Airways nor American Airlines have international nonstops from Pittsburgh. The airlines flow international passengers through hubs in Charlotte, N.C., and Philadelphia. The codeshare deal gives immediate access to British Airways' flights in the United States to London and will be rolled out to the rest of the flights by the end of the summer.

"US Airways' entry into the Atlantic Joint Business marked a crucial step in our overall integration process, and this codeshare agreement with our longtime partner British Airways is essential to the continued expansion of our combined networks," said Kurt Stache, senior vice president of alliances and partnerships in a preapred statement. "British Airways' network out of London offers unparalleled access to key destinations in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, providing our customers another tangible benefit of both the joint business and our merger."

US Airways said it would have codeshare agreements with Iberia and Finnair soon.

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US Airways apologises for posting pornographic image on Twitter

The US Airways apology. Photograph: Twitter

US Airways was forced into a humiliating apology on Monday night after it posted an obscene pornographic image on Twitter in response to a customer.

The American airline tweeted the explicit image to an unhappy customer by mistake – but it took the firm nearly an hour to remove the post.

The pornographic image, which depicted a naked women and a model plane, was included in a response to a customer who complained about her delayed flight from North Carolina to Oregon. The picture was accompanied by the message: "We welcome feedback, Elle. If your travel is complete, you can detail here for review and follow up."

The image was quickly retweeted around the world, spawning dozens of spin-off jokes and – eventually – an apology from US Airways.

The airline said in a statement: "Unfortunately the image was inadvertently included in a response to a customer. We immediately realised the error and removed our tweet.

"We deeply regret the mistake and we are currently reviewing our processes to prevent such errors in the future."

The airline, which has 422,000 followers on Twitter, said it had tried to flag the graphic image as inappropriate after it was tweeted to its account by another user.

The slip came just hours after a 14-year-old Dutch girl was arrested after tweeting a terror threat as a "joke" to American Airlines. The girl was detained by police in Rotterdam on Monday over the hoax tweet, in which she claimed she was a member of al-Qaida and would "do something really big" on 1 June.

The airline immediately responded to the girl to say it "takes these threats very seriously" and would pass her details to the FBI. The girl, known only as Sarah, panicked and replied: "I was joking and it was my friend not me, take her IP address not mine. I'm so scared I'm just a 14-year-old white girl I'm not a terrorist."

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Finnair welcomes TAM Airlines and US Airways to oneworld

TAM Airlines and US Airways today completed their transition to oneworld, marking the biggest single-day expansion of the world’s leading quality airline alliance since its launch 15 years ago.

From today, the 140 million members of the established oneworld airlines’ frequent flyer programs can earn and redeem awards and tier status points and receive all other oneworld benefits when flying on TAM and US Airways. To celebrate the additions to oneworld, Finnair Plus members will receive double the normal mileage awards when flying on TAM during May, and double the regular mileage awards when flying on US Airways between April 1 and June 30.

TAM and US Airways significantly expand the alliance on many key measures:

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US Airways Pilot Denies Jumpseat Privileges To American Pilots

The friction between pilots of the recently-merged American Airlines and US Airways seeped into a cockpit recently, when a US Airways captain refused to allow three American pilots to ride in his airplane's jumpseat as is a common practice.

Pilots will normally let other pilots ride in the cockpit jumpseat as a professional

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US Airways Pilots Sue American Airlines Pilots

Pilots for US Airways are suing to have an arbitrator settle a standoff with American Airlines pilots over seniority rights as the two carriers are combined.The US Airways pilots say they have been unable to agree with the pilots’ union at Fort Worth-based American on how to combine their groups. They’re trying to invoke a federal law that requires arbitration to settle seniority disputes.

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