American Airlines announced the timing of the last US Airways flight on Friday as well as the planned shutdown date of that airline’s reservations system.
The airline’s swan song will be a red-eye: Flight 434, scheduled to leave San Francisco International Airport at 10:00 p.m. on October 16 and land at Philadelphia International Airport shortly after 6:00 a.m. the following day.
At that point, the US Airways name and website will be retired and its airport signs and kiosks will carry the American brand. The Fort Worth-based airline said it has hired almost 2,000 workers to assist with the transition and will provide special training to over 10,000 employees.
Once the reservations system has been turned off, passengers booked on flights after October 17 will get a reservation with an American flight number.
In the last quarter century, numerous airlines have disappeared, some (including Northwest, Continental, and AirTran) through mergers, and others (including Pan Am, TWA, and Eastern) due to changes in the airline industry that they could not adjust to.
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