US Airways goes on final flight, and skips Pittsburgh

US Airways celebrated its final flight Friday with champagne toasts at stops in Philadelphia, Charlotte, Phoenix and San Francisco.

But Pittsburgh was passed over by Flight 1939 — which was named for the year US Airways started here as a small airmail carrier known as All-American Aviation. The airline grew into one of the nation's most profitable and persuaded Allegheny County officials to dump the old terminal in Moon and build a $1 billion facility in Findlay, largely to US Airways' specifications.

When financial turmoil struck in the early 2000s, including two bankruptcies, US Airways closed its Pittsburgh hub. More than 500 daily flights and 10,000 jobs vanished.

“It's the final insult,” former Allegheny County Executive Jim Roddey said of Pittsburgh being passed over by US Airways' last flight.

“Considering all the money we spent for them, you'd think they would stop for 30 minutes to say ‘hello,' ” Roddey said.

The Allegheny County Airport Authority, which now runs the airport instead of the county, is still paying for the airport's construction. The authority borrowed more than $900 million to build the facility and has about $230 million in outstanding debt, with annual debt payments of about $65 million, spokesman Bob Kerlik said. The annual payments are expected to dip to $20 million in 2019 and $5 million by 2022, Kerlik said.

The state provided $4 million in grants and tax credits to help US Airways build a $25 million flight operations center in Moon in 2008. The subsidies helped Pittsburgh beat Charlotte and Phoenix for the center. It closed in August, and the 650 jobs there were relocated to Texas, where American Airlines is based.

US Airways merged with American Airlines in 2013. The combined airline operates under the American name, but some planes will continue flying with the US Airways livery until they can all be repainted by next year.

American didn't return messages seeking comment.

Bittersweet occasion

Any misgivings about the company's past were under the surface Friday night in Findlay, where about 500 former employees of the airline gathered to commemorate its last flight with cake, drinking, dancing and plenty of conversation.

Each guest received a commemorative “Final Flight Party” pint glass inscribed with the date of Flight 1939 and a timeline of the company's merger history.

Sarah Fischer, who led the effort to organize the event, began her career as a flight attendant in 1987 with Piedmont Airlines before it merged with US Airways.

“We're sad, absolutely, however it's a family reunion,” said Fischer, 51, of Hopewell.

Former pilots wore wings, hats and identification badges they'd kept for decades. Others brought memorabilia, like a framed poster from when Pittsburgh International opened that said “If You Think Paris Is Sophisticated, Wait'll You See Pittsburgh.”

John Lednak, 65, of Sewickley worked for 35 years as a pilot and fleet captain. The flight crews mentored one another and helped each other learn the ins and outs of the airline, he said.

“If you tried to learn, there wasn't one person that wouldn't help you,” he said. “And then when you got a couple of years in and you would see a new person, you might help them.”

Left ‘high and dry'

In an interview with USA Today about US Airways' ast flight, American Airlines spokeswoman Martha Thomas said that the airline “definitely wanted to give a nod to US Airways and everyone that helped us build this airline.”

Mike Dawida, a former county commissioner who oversaw the airport from 1996 to 2000 when it was run by the county Department of Aviation, bristled at the remark.

“We bent over backwards for them. They left us high and dry,” Dawida said.

Dawida reserved particularly acrimonious remarks for former CEO Stephen M. Wolf. Dawida said that, during Wolf's tenure, local officials agreed to lower airline fees and provide other benefits to US Airways to make it more attractive for the airline to operate in Pittsburgh. But Wolf never lived up to his promises, Dawida said — including one to build a large maintenance center in Pittsburgh.

“Of all the thousands of people I met in politics — and I've served with people who went to jail — (Wolf) was the most dishonorable person I ever met,” Dawida said.

Wolf could not be reached for comment.

Looking back and moving forward

US Airways was the product of numerous mergers, acquisitions and name changes. The company started as All-American Aviation in 1939, then became All-American Airways a decade later when it started carrying passengers. It changed its name to Allegheny Airlines in 1953, USAir in 1979 and US Airways in 1996. It absorbed several airlines along the way.

By the late 1980s, it had become one of the nation's most profitable airlines and had its sights set on further expansion.

The airline lobbied Western Pennsylvania officials to build Pittsburgh International Airport. The facility opened to rave reviews in 1992 and was billed by many in the aviation industry as the most modern airport in the country, featuring an airside terminal shopping mall.

But the airline didn't live up to expectations. The airport was built to handle 35 million passengers a year, but it never served more than 21 million annually. It now handles slightly more than 8 million a year, Kerlik said.

As the airport bond debt is reduced during the next several years, authority officials plan to lower the fees airlines pay to operate in Pittsburgh in a move they hope will entice them to add flights. The airport offers about 173 daily flights, on average, to 51 destinations — down from a peak of more than 700 daily flights to more than 100 destinations before 9/11.

Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis, the highest-paid official in the county at about $300,000 annually, was brought in from Boston to increase traffic and the number of carriers.

“We're looking at the facility and the most efficient way to use it,” Cassotis said.

Former US Airways pilot Ron Kukuruda, 67, and his wife, Shelley, 65, were at the airport the day it opened in 1992. They said they took their children out of school for the day to see the first landing of a flight from California.

“It was one of the most beautiful airports ever. It was so state-of-the-art,” Shelley Kukuruda said.

When they flew into Pittsburgh from their home in Charlotte to attend Friday's party, they noticed the recent upgrades to the airport, including the $4 million terrazzo floor in the concourse. Kukuruda said he looked forward to reuniting with former colleagues.

His time as a pilot, he said, “was the best time of my life.”

Tom Fontaine and Melissa Daniels are staff writers for Trib Total Media.