When designing the new look for US Airways, America Westexecutives turned their back on high-salaried Madison Avenue imageconsultants.
Instead, they interviewed employees from both of the mergedairlines: flight attendants, pilots, mechanics and executives.
The result: a look that's neither too corporate nor too casual,according to Travis Christ, America West's vice president ofmarketing who oversaw the new US Airways design.
Christ said the merged airline's style would best be described as'right down the middle between American and Southwest [airlines].'
The newly redesigned planes, which make their debut today, aspireto a brighter appearance than US Airways' current fleet. America Westhas scrapped the dark blue paint at the top of the aircraft,replacing it with white. The change was partly to keep the interiorof the planes cooler during layovers in the Phoenix and Las Vegasheat. The dark blue now runs along the belly of the aircraft.
The plane also sports what America West executives call a heritagecircle near the cabin door representing US Airways' history. Thecircle contains the logos of airlines now part of US Airways:Piedmont, Allegheny, PSA and America West. The purpose of the circleis to give current US Airways employees who worked for the formerairlines a sense of 'pride and respect,' Christ said.
The airline kept the U.S. flag that is emblazoned on the tail andside of the current US Airways aircraft. The flag has also been addedto the tips of the winglets. The new aircraft also will have a redstripe along the length of the belly. Airline executives said thedesign creates a woosh-like effect of a waving flag.
America West will take the first newly painted aircraft around thecountry to show off to its employees. BizClass was among the first toget an early peek.
'We tried to add a little bit of style to it,' Christ said. 'Wethink that US Airways today is known for being a little too button-down business. And if you look at America West, we're a little toocasual. So we wanted something that was the best representation ofthe new company, that is a business-casual theme.'
The new look is part of a rebranding of Arlington-based US Airwaysas it heads toward its merger with America West, expected to becompleted by the end of September, barring any objections fromAmerica West's shareholders and US Airways' creditors. America Westis spending more than $18 million to paint the 200 planes in thecombined airlines' fleet. It will take 18 months to complete theredesign, which is the first for US Airways since 1997 when itchanged its name from USAir.
The US Airways-America West union was billed as a merger, althoughthe new airline will be based in Tempe, Ariz., America West's hometown, and will be overseen primarily by America West executives.
Executives portray the new US Airways as a hybrid -- a low-costcarrier in its cost structure and fares but also a traditionalairline with features such as international routes and first-classcabins.
The new look isn't so much of a departure from the currentappearance that it will require massive redesign inside theterminals. Executives wanted to keep the changes to a minimum to savecosts on redoing ticket counters, airport gates and other facilities.
The redesign does not extend to inside the cabin, where theconfiguration and legroom will remain unchanged, said Scott Kirby,America West's executive vice president of marketing and sales.
While the new airline will offer East Coast travelers more flightsto Las Vegas, Phoenix and Hawaii, don't expect additionaltranscontinental flights to San Francisco or the Los Angeles area.The airline plans to focus mainly on cities where it has hubs ormajor operations such as Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Charlotte, LasVegas, Phoenix and Washington's Reagan National Airport.
'Other destinations have become intensively competitive and fuelprices make them uncomfortable,' Kirby said. 'We are going toconcentrate on our core strengths and areas where we think we will beprofitable even with high fuel prices.'
Northwest Update: Northwest Airlines said it continued to operateunder normal conditions yesterday after its 4,400 mechanics andaircraft cleaners walked off their jobs Saturday.
Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch declined to comment on thenumber of delays and canceled flights, but said the airline'soperations were 'consistent' with other days this month.
The airline spent about 18 months preparing for the walkout and isusing workers laid off from other airlines to replace the strikers.
The Federal Aviation Administration is not 'seeing anythingunusual in regards to delays or cancellations,' agency spokesman PaulTakemoto said. 'Things are running smoothly and the planes are in air-worthy condition.'
Takemoto said Northwest's replacement workers were taking a'little bit longer' to work on the aircraft, but the FAA was notseeing a spike in delayed or canceled flights.
On Sunday, the FAA said Northwest's planes were about 78 percentfull, which is about normal for this time of year.
Question of the Week: Have you flown Northwest during the strike?Do you have plans to do so in coming days? If so, we want to hearfrom you. What are your thoughts on the airline's operations? Has itimproved, worsened or remained the same during the strike? Send yourcomments to alexanderk@washpost.com. And don't forget to include yourname and a daytime telephone number.
