Doug Parker

The new American Airlines may close a flight operations center outside Pittsburgh in a couple of years, and the jobs would move to American's larger operations control center in Dallas, US Airways chief executive officer Doug Parker said. Parker, who will lead the new American after the merger with US Airways, said this week that no decision had been made, but that the combined airline, which will be based in Fort Worth, Texas, would not need two operations control centers. Many of the 500 workers who now coordinate US Airways' 3,000 daily flights near the Pittsburgh airport will be offered jobs in Dallas, he said.

US Airways Group Inc. flight attendants, including 2,073 based in Philadelphia, have reached a third tentative contract agreement with management. Members had narrowly voted down the previous offer, 51 percent to 49 percent. The new agreement, reached under the supervision of the National Mediation Board, provides "immediate economic improvements" and "a process for additional gains through discussions" related to a possible merger with American Airlines, the union said, adding, "Doug Parker's plan for a US Airways-American merger provides the best opportunities for US Airways flight attendants - and we are now poised to make the most out of those opportunities.

Shares of Delta Air Lines and US Airways Group were higher Tuesday after both carriers reported profitable first quarters that beat analysts' estimates. Delta said it was the best first quarter in more than a decade, with earnings, excluding special items, at $85 million, or 10 cents a share. Analysts had estimated six cents. US Airways reported a profit of $55 million, or 31 cents a share, excluding special items. That beat analysts' average estimate of 28 cents and compared to a first-quarter 2012 net loss, excluding one-time charges, of $22 million, or 13 cents per share.

Call him a visionary. Call him possessed. Doug Parker pulled it off. The US Airways chief executive officer and his team began doggedly pursuing American Airlines in January 2012, less than two months after the larger rival filed for bankruptcy protection. Parker, 51, a longtime proponent of airline consolidation, tried unsuccessfully three other times to merge US Airways - twice with United, in 2008 and 2010, and in a 2006 bid for Delta Air Lines. The longest-serving chief executive of a major airline changed tactics this time and outsmarted AMR Corp.

US Airways on Wednesday paid more than $12 million to employees as a share of the airline's $111 million net profit earned in 2011. Pilots and flight attendants, who make up about a third of US Airways' 32,000 employees, got about half the money. The airline's 4,200 pilots received 36 percent of the payouts from the general profit-sharing pool, and 6,700 flight attendants received 14.5 percent. Passenger-service and reservations employees received about 13 percent of the money.

US Airways has added India, Israel, Russia and Turkey to the list of countries where it would like to start flying nonstop from Philadelphia International Airport in the next few years. US Airways senior vice president C.A. Howlett, who was at the airport yesterday to mark the launch of service to three European cities, said the airline planned to add two to four international routes a year from Philadelphia, provided it could lease enough gates and acquire more long-haul airplanes.

US Airways Group Inc. will announce today a new international route from Philadelphia International Airport. Chief executive officer Doug Parker said last month that the airline would like to start service to Tel Aviv, Israel. US Airways, which carries two-thirds of passengers in and out of Philadelphia, declined yesterday to name the new route, pending today's announcement. Parker, along with Mayor Nutter, will be at the airport this morning to detail the new service.

US Airways Group Inc. and three other major airlines reported fourth-quarter losses yesterday, and cited weaker future bookings and revenue trends. But Scott Kirby, president of US Airways, said in conference call that Philadelphia's dominant airline would fare better than some carriers because 80 percent of its flights are domestic and international flying was starting to "underperform" U.S. markets. "Forward bookings and revenue data are significantly more volatile than at any time in the past," Kirby said.

Few shareholders showed up yesterday for US Airways' annual meeting in Philadelphia, leaving ample time for two union officials to ask pointed questions of chief executive officer Doug Parker about the March service meltdown. In a refrain he has used in other recent public statements, Parker apologized to shareholders and employees for mismanaging the airline's switch to a new computer reservations-and-ticketing system. Parker acknowledged that the company had not made sure the system would work properly from a technical standpoint, nor had it trained employees well enough on how to use it, before its March 4 launch.

Fare impact from airline mergers It's laughable to hear US Airways chief Doug Parker say that Philadelphia will benefit from the merger with American Airlines ("In Phila., extolling airlines' merger," March 27). I've been flying twice a year for business to Portland, Maine, for more than 20 years. Tickets for a 52-minute nonstop flight once cost in the $300 range at a time when there was competition on that route. But now it's in the $800 to $1,000 range. The reason? Southwest Airlines in the last year or so decided it was only flying in a southwest direction from Philadelphia.

Shares of Delta Air Lines and US Airways Group were higher Tuesday after both carriers reported profitable first quarters that beat analysts' estimates. Delta said it was the best first quarter in more than a decade, with earnings, excluding special items, at $85 million, or 10 cents a share. Analysts had estimated six cents. US Airways reported a profit of $55 million, or 31 cents a share, excluding special items. That beat analysts' average estimate of 28 cents and compared to a first-quarter 2012 net loss, excluding one-time charges, of $22 million, or 13 cents per share.

Fare impact from airline mergers It's laughable to hear US Airways chief Doug Parker say that Philadelphia will benefit from the merger with American Airlines ("In Phila., extolling airlines' merger," March 27). I've been flying twice a year for business to Portland, Maine, for more than 20 years. Tickets for a 52-minute nonstop flight once cost in the $300 range at a time when there was competition on that route. But now it's in the $800 to $1,000 range. The reason? Southwest Airlines in the last year or so decided it was only flying in a southwest direction from Philadelphia.

The new American Airlines may close a flight operations center outside Pittsburgh in a couple of years, and the jobs would move to American's larger operations control center in Dallas, US Airways chief executive officer Doug Parker said. Parker, who will lead the new American after the merger with US Airways, said this week that no decision had been made, but that the combined airline, which will be based in Fort Worth, Texas, would not need two operations control centers. Many of the 500 workers who now coordinate US Airways' 3,000 daily flights near the Pittsburgh airport will be offered jobs in Dallas, he said.

Call him a visionary. Call him possessed. Doug Parker pulled it off. The US Airways chief executive officer and his team began doggedly pursuing American Airlines in January 2012, less than two months after the larger rival filed for bankruptcy protection. Parker, 51, a longtime proponent of airline consolidation, tried unsuccessfully three other times to merge US Airways - twice with United, in 2008 and 2010, and in a 2006 bid for Delta Air Lines. The longest-serving chief executive of a major airline changed tactics this time and outsmarted AMR Corp.

US Airways Group Inc. flight attendants, including 2,073 based in Philadelphia, have reached a third tentative contract agreement with management. Members had narrowly voted down the previous offer, 51 percent to 49 percent. The new agreement, reached under the supervision of the National Mediation Board, provides "immediate economic improvements" and "a process for additional gains through discussions" related to a possible merger with American Airlines, the union said, adding, "Doug Parker's plan for a US Airways-American merger provides the best opportunities for US Airways flight attendants - and we are now poised to make the most out of those opportunities.

US Airways chief executive Doug Parker is in hot pursuit of a dream - to create what could be the world's biggest airline. Parker's target is bankrupt American Airlines. A merger between American and US Airways, the dominant airline at Philadelphia International Airport, would create a company that is wonderfully well-positioned in a complicated industry that has been forced to consolidate. The bigger the airline, Parker believes, the better the chances to strengthen routes, dictate pricing, and grow profits.

US Airways on Wednesday paid more than $12 million to employees as a share of the airline's $111 million net profit earned in 2011. Pilots and flight attendants, who make up about a third of US Airways' 32,000 employees, got about half the money. The airline's 4,200 pilots received 36 percent of the payouts from the general profit-sharing pool, and 6,700 flight attendants received 14.5 percent. Passenger-service and reservations employees received about 13 percent of the money.

Doug Parker became chief executive officer of America West and later US Airways Group Inc. 10 days before Sept. 11, 2001, when planes crashing into buildings forever changed air travel, and made flying more of a hassle. Now just getting to the gate can be an ordeal: lines at screening checkpoints, body scans, removing shoes, surrendering all but 3 ounces of liquids. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, Americans' fear of flying spurred a shakeout in the industry that continues today: 159,000 airline employees, or 29 percent, lost their jobs since 2001.

US Airways chief executive officer Doug Parker favors more consolidation among airlines and has said his Arizona-based company wants to be part of either a merger or a strategic partnership with another airline. So, which are the likely partners for US Airways Group Inc.? Wall Street analyst Helane Becker of Jesup & Lamont Securities said in a research note last week that three partnerships "make sense for US Airways. " Each would help Philadelphia's dominant airline keep pace with Delta Air Lines Inc., now the world's largest airline, and the new combined United-Continental Airlines Inc., which, if a tie-up were approved, would top Delta as the biggest, the analyst said.