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US Airways operates major hubs in Charlotte, Philadelphia and Phoenix and maintains focus city operations at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. A member of the Star Alliance, the airline has a fleet of 347 mainline jet aircraft and 319 regional jet and turbo-prop aircraft connecting 200 destinations in North America, South America, Europe and the Middle East. In 2003 US Airways began exploring the availability of financing and merger partners. The airline merged in 2005 with America West Airlines; all of the financing was arranged by US Airways. After the merger, the new airline retained the US Airways name. The name choice was based on studies indicating that the US Airways name had better brand recognition worldwide than the America West name. The carrier operates the US Airways Shuttle, a US Airways brand which provides hourly service between Boston, New York and Washington, D.C. Regional airline service is branded as US Airways Express, operated by contract and subsidiary airline companies. As of December 2008, US Airways employed 33,765 people worldwide and operated 3,130 daily flights (1,312 US Airways Mainline, 1,818 US Airways Express as of December 2008). |