NEW YORK, Sept 12 (AFP) - US Airways, which filed for bankruptcy protection for a second time Sunday, aimed to be a traditional success story of the American skies.
It entered mergers and partnerships, but has never succeeded in finding a niche among cut-throat competitors.
Following the lead of bigger players in the industry like American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, US Airways has built its self up gradually, by beginning to fly under the name of All American Aviation in 1949, after carrying mail for 10 years in the state of Pennsylvania.
In 1953, All American became Allegheny Airlines while developing its regional network, a goal that became closer in 1968, when the company merged with Lake Central Airlines, another regional carrier.
The merger allowed the airline to establish itself in the Midwest. Then, in 1972, it merged with Mohawk Airlines, which served all of the northeastern United States.
The 1978 deregulation of the industry allowed US carriers, including Allegheny, to pursue their dreams. The company changed its name to USAir and expanded its network toward the west.
As consolidation in the US airline industry continued throughout the 1980s, USAir got its slice of the pie by acquiring Piedmont and Pacific Southwest in 1987 and integrating them into a group and equipping it with new Boeing 767s for transatlantic flights.
From 1990, USAir expanded primarily by developing partnerships, in particular with South American carriers and British Airways -- and investing in transatlantic routes to answer the world tourist boom.
Since 1997 the company has been operating under its current name of US Airways. Its fleet includes 282 planes, it employs a total of 27.848 employees, including 3,228 pilots and 5,561 flight attendants.
But this rather traditional path of development has produced problems customary for American companies: bad management, unbalanced cost structure, burdensome wages and benefit programs.
Too small compared to its competitors, US Airways was among those that suffered most after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
The company tried to trim its regional routes, giving priority to South America and the Caribbean and abandoning Europe to its competitors.
At the same time, it sought to obtain wage and benefit reductions from its employees.
But when Delta Air Lines, United and American Airlines was struggling, US Airways could hardly do better, particularly when faced with fierce competition on the part of low-cost airlines.
In August 2002, US Airways was placed for the first time under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
It committed to a vast reorganization plan that calls for cost reductions of more than 1.8 billion dollars that enabled it to leave bankruptcy protection seven months later.
But hopes did not materialize. The industry remained depressed, operating under the fear of new terrorist attacks, weighed down by high insurance premiums and increasing fuel prices.
If employees refuse to tighten their belts once again, the chairman of the company warned that the second bankruptcy could result in the carrier`s liquidation.