The new US Airways the result of a merger between America West and US Airways two
years ago—officially became one airline in the eyes of the Federal Aviation
Administration as the FAA granted the airline a single operating
certificate.
“This is a very important milestone, reflecting two years of hard work
combining and refining two sets of policies, procedures, manuals, checklists
and computer systems for virtually every area of the airline,” said US Airways
Chairman and CEO Doug Parker.  “Achieving an integration of this magnitude in
just 24 months is unheard of in the airline industry and a fantastic result.”

  Senior Vice President of Technical Operations, Hal Heule, who led the
effort, congratulated the Operations and I.T. teams and thanked the FAA for
their guidance, oversight and support.  “This very complex process proceeded
on time, smoothly, and was a testament to cooperation between our work groups
and regulators.  I’m very proud of this team and the important work they
accomplished here,” Heule said.

  Work toward a single certificate began shortly after the merger of US
Airways and America West on Sept. 27, 2005.  It involved integrating into one
the separate airlines’ information technology systems and flight operations
computer systems, airport, maintenance and on-board policies and procedures.
The certification became official after the integration of the airlines’
flight operations systems this week.

  Though transparent to US Airways’ customers, achieving the single
certificate allows the airline to operate as one US Airways with one set of
policies, procedures, computer systems, maintenance and flight control
systems.  The next step in the airline’s integration is to achieve single
contracts with pilots, flight attendants, and ground and maintenance
employees, who will continue to work under terms of transition agreements
reached after the merger. 
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