America West Express

America West Express was the name for America West Airlines commuter and regional flights operated by Mesa Air Group's Mesa Airlines under a code share agreement. Today Mesa Airlines operates for US Airways Express.^[1]

Mesa Airlines operated America West Express from hubs at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California to regional destinations.

Chautauqua Airlines also operated America West Express regional jet service via a code sharing agreement in support of the America West hub in Columbus, Ohio.

America West Express fleet consisted of 61 turboprop and regional jet aircraft.

History

A traveler boards an America West Express CRJ-200 regional jet operated by Mesa Airlines at the Las Vegas airport.

America West Express started as a regional carrier in association with America West Airlines with a hub at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona. The name "America West Express" was taken from the old America West Airlines cargo service which had begun in 1985. America West initially operated de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8 turboprop aircraft with its own flight crews; however, on November 30, 1992, America West signed a codeshare agreement with Mesa Airlines to operate America West Airlines' regional and commuter services as America West Express.

In the mid-1990s, with the opening of the America West Airlines hub at Port Columbus International Airport in Columbus, Ohio, America West Airlines used Chautauqua Airlines to provide Embraer ERJ-145 regional jet service to feed the hub. When the Columbus hub was shut down, the Chautauqua Airlines code share was discontinued, leaving Mesa as the sole operator of AW Express services.

In 2003, America West greatly increased the size of their express operation by starting new routes operated by regional jets from its hub at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In 2006 America West Express was branded as US Airways Express following the merger of America West with US Airways.

Destinations

Main article: America West Express destinations

Historical Fleet

An America West Express CRJ-200LR on a murky Los Angeles morning.

Type	Aircraft	Seats
Bombardier CRJ200	18	50
Bombardier CRJ900	37	90
de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8-100	6	37

Mesa Airlines also previously operated America West Express flights with 19-passenger Beechcraft 1900D and 30-passenger Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia turboprop aircraft.^[2]

Chautauqua Airlines operated Embraer ERJ-145 regional jets on its America West Express flights.^[3]

Desert Sun Airlines a Mesa Air Group subsidiary, also operated two Fokker 70 jet aircraft on behalf of America West Express.

Services

America West Express operated all of its fleet in a single coach class configuration. At one time, the CRJ-700s and CRJ-900s did offer dual class service. However, this was dropped when customers were not willing to pay extra for limited First class amenities on these short flights. Increasing the number of coach seats resulted in increased revenue.

Identifying codes

Since these were code share flights, the America West Airlines codes were used for customer purposes. HPX indicates America West Express flights. However, the flights were actually operated under the Mesa Airlines codes.

References

↑
↑ http://www.airliners.net, photos of America West Express (Mesa Airlines) Beechcraft 1900D
↑ http://www.airliners.net, photo of America West Express Embraer ERJ-145 operated by Chautauqua Airlines

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to America West Express.

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