ARLINGTON, Va. April 4, 2003—ÊUS Airways reported its March 2003 passenger traffic today.  Revenue passenger miles for March 2003 decreased 16.3 percent on 11.0 percent less capacity compared to March 2002. The passenger load factor for the month was 73.4 percent.

For the first quarter of 2003, revenue passenger miles decreased 14.1 percent on 13.0 percent less capacity compared to the first three months of 2002. The passenger load factor for the period was 67.7 percent, a 0.9 percentage point decrease compared to the same period in 2002.
The three wholly owned subsidiaries of US Airways Group, Inc.—Allegheny Airlines, Inc., Piedmont Airlines, Inc., and PSA, Inc.—reported a 14.5 percent decrease in revenue passenger miles for the month of March on 12.2 percent less capacity. The passenger load factor was 51.9 percent, a 1.4 percentage point decrease compared to March 2002.
For the first quarter of 2003, Allegheny Airlines, Inc., Piedmont Airlines, Inc., and PSA, Inc., reported a 10.5 percent decrease in revenue passenger miles on 10.7 percent less capacity. The passenger load factor was 48.7 percent, a 0.1 percentage point increase compared to the first three months of 2002.

US Airways ended the month by completing 99.1 percent of its scheduled flights, an improvement over March 2002 when the airline completed 98.9 percent of its scheduled flights.

“The potential for war with Iraq during the first few weeks of March had a profoundly negative impact on our business and that of this industry and we continue to see bookings suffer as a result of this ongoing conflict,” said David N. Siegel, US Airways president and chief executive officer. “Uncertain of the duration of the war, we reduced our April schedule by about 5 percent to offset drop off in demand. We will continue to closely watch new booking trends to determine if further temporary reductions are necessary.”
“Despite these disappointing trends, our employees have performed admirably during our reorganization and since emergence, and I genuinely commend each and every one of them for their outstanding contributions,” said Siegel.

System mainline passenger unit revenue for March 2003 is expected to decrease between 4.0 percent and 5.0 percent compared to March 2002.

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