US Airways Expands Central and South America for Customers Through TACA Codeshare Agreement

With recent approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation, US Airways (NYSE: LCC) customers will be able to enjoy expanded travel between the United States and destinations in Central and South America, thanks to a new codeshare agreement between TACA Airlines and US Airways beginning Jan. 12, 2010. Flying will be open for sale beginning Dec. 5 at usairways.com and through global distribution channels.

The codeshare agreement will complement existing US Airways flying to Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize and beginning Dec. 15—Rio de Janeiro, Brazil—from its Charlotte, N.C., hub.

With this new agreement, US Airways customers traveling from the United States to Latin America will be able to connect on flights operated by TACA Airlines. Through TACA’s hubs in San Salvador, El Salvador; San Jose, Costa Rica; and Lima, Peru, US Airways customers can travel on a single ticket to those countries, as well as Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Conversely, TACA customers gain greater access to US Airways' markets in the United States and beyond through connecting opportunities in Charlotte.

US Airways Senior Vice President Marketing and Planning Andrew Nocella said, "Our codeshare offerings continue to expand for our customers in 2010, which means more destinations in more countries. Customers can book these flights directly from US Airways and enjoy convenient ticketing and baggage connectivity just as they would on a US Airways-operated flight.”

"Through this agreement we can deliver an improved travel experience for TACA and US Airways passengers,” said TACA Corporate Development Vice President Alex Benitez. "Opportunities like these are driven by our concern for our customers’ needs and ultimately contribute to ensure high levels of customer satisfaction, one of our main business goals.”

About TACA Airlines

TACA Airlines has united the American continent through its three hubs (El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Peru) and a wide route network that spans from Canada to Brazil 42 destinations distributed in 22 countries. Its fleet is composed of Airbus 319, 320 and 321 aircraft, and new Embraer E190s. TACA was recently recognized by Skytrax, one of the most respected world-wide passenger airline surveys, as the Best Airline for Central America and the Caribbean. During 2008, the carrier served approximately 5.5 million passengers, operating approximately 140 daily departures. More information on TACA Airlines and its services is available at www.taca.com.

About US Airways

US Airways, along with US Airways Shuttle and US Airways Express, operates more than 3,000 flights per day and serves more than 200 communities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Middle East, the Caribbean and Latin America. The airline employs more than 32,000 aviation professionals worldwide and is a member of the Star Alliance network, which offers its customers more than 17,000 daily flights to 916 destinations in 160 countries worldwide. Together with its US Airways Express partners, the airline serves approximately 80 million passengers each year and operates hubs in Charlotte, N.C., Philadelphia and Phoenix with major operations at Boston Logan, New York-LaGuardia and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airports. And for the eleventh consecutive year, the airline received a Diamond Award for maintenance training excellence from the Federal Aviation Administration for its Charlotte hub line maintenance facility. For more company information, visit usairways.com or on Twitter @USAirwaysNews. (LCCG)