US Airways to Start Serving Heathrow

posted: 21 November 2007 12:43 pm ET

: US Airways will operate its new Philadelphia-London Heathrow service with Airbus A330-300s. The type is the flagship of US Airways' long-haul fleet and the carrier has 17 longer-haul A330-200s on order (including two aircraft to be leased from ILFC), as well as 22 A350 XWB widebodies that will be delivered in the middle of the next decade. Credit: Airbus S.A.S.

US Airways will be flying to London Heathrow Airport from next March.

The airline will begin daily flights between Philadelphia and London Heathrow on March 29, 2008, and will begin selling tickets for the service on Dec. 1. US Airways plans to operate the flights with Airbus A330-300 aircraft offering 29 "Envoy" business-class seats and 259 economy seats.

"We were fortunate to identify a unique opportunity to acquire landing and takeoff rights at Heathrow, and given Heathrow's importance as a European gateway as well as its close proximity to London for business travelers, we are pleased to take advantage of that opportunity," said Scott Kirby, US Airways' president.

The airline recently acquired the Heathrow arrival/departure slots necessary to operate the schedule. Its flight number US 720 will leave Philadelphia at 10:45 p.m. and will arrive at London Heathrow at 11:05 a.m the next morning. The return flight, US 721, will depart Heathrow at 12:50 p.m. and will arrive at Philadelphia at 4:00 p.m.

In launching its new Philadelphia-Heathrow service, US Airways will be one of the first U.S. airlines to benefit from the new "Open Skies" agreement between the European Union and the United States.

The agreement opens up Heathrow to all U.S. airlines -- as long as they can obtain landing slots for their services -- and is due to begin on March 30, 2008, the day the first US Airways flight from Philadelphia touches down at the busy London airport.

"We are extremely appreciative to the U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Department of State for their leadership in reaching an Open Skies agreement with the European Union, which makes our entry into Heathrow possible," said Kirby.

Under the new multilateral Open Skies deal, also, any airline from the European Union will be able to fly to any gateway destination in the United States from any European airport.

The new Philadelphia-Heathrow route will be US Airways' seventh new transatlantic route since 2006. With the new service, the number of European destinations that US Airways serves from Philadelphia will increase to 20.

US Airways now boards 19 million passengers annually at its Philadelphia hub, operating 390 daily flights to 108 destinations in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America.

It is the fifth largest U.S. airline, employing more than 36,000 staff worldwide. US Airways, US Airways Shuttle and US Airways Express operate approximately 3,500 flights per day and serve more than 230 communities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America.

US Airways is a member of the Star Alliance, the world's largest airline alliance and a network which now contains dozens of airlines worldwide. The Star Alliance network offers 16,000 daily flights to 855 destinations in 155 countries worldwide.