US Airways livery

US Airways' aircraft livery has varied both under the US Airways and USAir name. In general the Express and Shuttle divisions have had liveries that closely parallel the company-wide livery at the time. The current US Airways livery is being replaced with the new American Airlines livery, in accordance with their merger.

History

In 1979 US Air introduced its new livery, a primarily unpainted plane, with an orange, red, and brown running strip, and a stylized US Air title, with the "A" written as a triangle.^[1] The "A" was very similar to the "A" which had been used in the final Allegheny Airlines livery/logo. Variations of this livery existed, and included the basic livery on a white fuselage.^[2]

In the late 1980s, at the time of Piedmont Airlines being acquired, the company changed its colors to red, white, and blue. The livery adopted under this scheme continued to utilize a primarily unpainted plane, instead with a red running strip, topped by a blue running strip. US Air was converted to a more standard logo, written in a serif font. The tail of the livery was painted blue with red stripes.^[3]

Upon the company's re-branding as US Airways a new livery was introduced, the upper portion of the plane was painted in very dark blue, the lower portion of the plane in light grey, separated by a white and red running strip. The US Airways title was painted in a white serif font, accompanied by a stylized flag logo. The tail of the airplane was also painted in very dark blue to match the upper fuselage, with the stylized flag painted on the tail in grey.^[4] In addition the company's MetroJet division had a livery derived from this livery, instead with a bright red in place of the blue, and the title MetroJet, in place of US Airways. The tail and underbelly of the livery remained the same as the US Airways mainline livery.^[5] Additionally, during this period several planes were painted with the Star Alliance livery, which featured the Star Alliance logo on the tail of the airplane, and the title Star Alliance painted prominently on the airplane.^[6] With US Airways' departure from Star Alliance, all of these aircraft were repainted into the new American Airlines livery.

Current livery

After the 2005 merger of US Airways and America West Airlines, a light grey livery^[7] was chosen to better meet operational needs due to the summer heat at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Las Vegas McCarran International Airport hubs inherited from America West.^[8]

The livery incorporates colors from the four airlines that became US Airways:

• Allegheny (red and blue)
• America West (white, orange, turquoise, and waving gray lines)
• Pacific Southwest Airlines (red and orange with a black smile)
• Piedmont Airlines (also red and blue)

The logos of these four airlines are painted in miniature near the main cabin door.

Since January 2014, following the merger of US Airways with American Airlines, all US Airways aircraft, except for the heritage A319s and A321 noted below, are being progressively painted in the new American Airlines livery. The first jet to re-enter revenue service was an Airbus A319, tail number N700UW, which previously sported a Star Alliance branding.^[9]

Logo planes

The post-merger US Airways has continued the America West tradition of logo jets and currently only uses Airbus A319 aircraft for these special liveries. US Airways has established marketing agreements with four NFL franchises, all located in the airline's hubs or focus cities:

• Carolina Panthers: An Airbus A319 operated by US Airways, introduced in September 2007^[10]

Former logo planes

• Teamwork Coast to Coast: A Boeing 757-200 operated by America West Airlines which symbolizes America West flying coast to coast.^[11]
• Arizona: An Airbus A319 operated by America West Airlines, introduced in May 2007^[12]
• Arizona: A Boeing 757-200 operated by America West Airlines with full aircraft paint^[13]
• Arizona Cardinals: An Airbus A319 operated by America West Airlines, introduced in December 2006^[14]
• Arizona Diamondbacks: A Boeing 757-200 operated by America West Airlines previously in the Diamondbacks former team colors. Repainted into regular U.S. Airways livery over the winter of 2006.^[15]
• Nevada: An Airbus A319 operated by America West Airlines, introduced in May 2007.^[16]
• Nevada: A Boeing 757-200 operated by America West Airlines painted with full aircraft paint^[17]
• Ohio: A Boeing 757-200 operated by America West Airlines^[18]
• Philadelphia Eagles: An Airbus A319 operated by US Airways, introduced in October 2006^[19]
• Pittsburgh Steelers: An Airbus A319 operated by US Airways, introduced in August 2007^[20][21]
• Dot-Com Scheme: Several Boeing 737-300s operated by US Airways were stripped of their paint and marked the return of a bare-metal scheme at the airline. Up to 10 planes exhibited the "USAirways.Com" livery so the fuselage could be easily examined, due to crack issues around various joints of the fuselage.
• Unauthorized PSA Smilies: Since the merger with Pacific Southwest Airlines various aircraft have been painted with officially unauthorized black smiles on the underside of the nose of the aircraft.^[22]

Heritage liveries

In addition, several airplanes have been painted with heritage liveries, incorporating the look of the previous airlines, but including the US Airways titles.^[23] US Airways displayed considerable historical care in the design of the heritage liveries, repainting the same airplane to achieve a more historically accurate livery. Additionally, the aircraft have been registered with suffixes representative of the original carriers.

The Piedmont heritage plane^[24] has been painted in a more accurate blue, the airplane type was painted on the tail to match the Piedmont standard, and the US Airways title was changed to red, to better reflect the Piedmont livery.^[25]

The Allegheny heritage plane^[26] has been repainted with a more accurate grey underbelly, a more appropriately sized running strip, and the registration was moved above the window, to more accurately reflect the Allegheny livery.^[27]

The PSA heritage plane has been repainted with a larger more accurate smile.^[28]

Two planes have been painted with heritage America West liveries - one with the mid-1990s livery ^[29] and one with the 1980s livery heritage plane reflecting America West's original livery, with a US Airways logo on the front.^[30]

Following the merger with American Airlines, except for the aircraft with the original America West livery, all of the heritage planes were repainted in the same livery, but with American Airlines titles on the forward fuselage replacing the US Airways titles. Additionally, American Airlines created another US Airways heritage livery post-merger: the final US Airways (2005) livery, incorporating the US Airways livery with American titles. Unlike the previous heritage liveries, which were all on Airbus A319s, this heritage livery appears on an Airbus A321 which was the final plane delivered in US Airways livery.

Gallery

Standard liveries

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  British Aerospace 146 in initial USAir livery

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  Boeing 737 in final USAir livery

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  Boeing 737 in initial US Airways livery

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  Embraer 170 operated by Republic Airlines in Star Alliance livery

• 

  Airbus A320 in post-America West merger livery

Heritage liveries

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  Airbus A319 in 1980s America West Heritage Livery

• 

  Airbus A319 in Pacific Southwest Airlines Heritage Livery

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  Airbus A319 in Piedmont Heritage Livery

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  Airbus A319 in 1994 America West Heritage Livery

• 

  Airbus A321 post-merger in the final US Airways (now Heritage) livery

Sports liveries

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  Airbus A319 in Philadelphia Eagles livery

• 

  Airbus A319 in Arizona Cardinals livery

• 

  Airbus A319 in Carolina Panthers livery

• 

  Airbus A319 in Pittsburgh Steelers livery

State liveries

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  Airbus A319 in Nevada state livery

• 

  Airbus A319 in Arizona state livery

References