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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
US Airways and Airbus S.A.S. Execute Aircraft Purchase Agreements
Airline Announces Execution of Purchase Agreements for Airbus Aircraft Order Announced in June
TEMPE, Ariz., Oct. 4 -- US Airways (NYSE: LCC) and Airbus S.A.S. have entered into definitive aircraft purchase agreements for 92 new aircraft, including 32 wide-body and 60 A320 Family narrow-body aircraft, incorporating the terms of the aircraft order announced in June.
The airline executed a purchase agreement for 22 A350 XWBs in both the -800 and larger -900 series configuration. This allows for modest international expansion or replacement of existing older technology aircraft should market conditions warrant.
The airline will take delivery of the first A350 XWBs in 2014, becoming the North American launch customer for the fleet type. Purchase rights for additional aircraft are included, allowing for the eventual retirement of all other wide-body jets and leaving the airline with a single intercontinental fleet type of A350 XWBs.
The airline also executed a purchase agreement for 10 A330-200 aircraft with deliveries starting in 2009 and flexibility to convert to A330-300 or longer range A340s. These deliveries will facilitate the eventual retirement of US Airways' B767 fleet.
A third purchase agreement was executed for 60 narrow-body aircraft, including 10 A319s, 40 A320s and 10 A321s, with conversion rights. Narrow-body deliveries, including 37 aircraft from a previous purchase agreement, run from 2008 through 2012. Classic Boeing 737-300/400s will be eliminated from the fleet as the A320s are delivered. The narrow-body fleet count is expected to remain stable.
US Airways CEO and Chairman Doug Parker said, "We are very pleased to have cemented our order with Airbus and look forward to continued success as we add these new safe, efficient and comfortable airplanes to our fleet. Our employees will benefit from new, state-of-the-art aircraft in which our customers will receive the great service they deserve and expect."
US Airways is the fifth largest domestic airline employing more than 36,000 aviation professionals worldwide. US Airways, US Airways Shuttle and US Airways Express operate approximately 3,800 flights per day and serve more than 230 communities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America. The new US Airways -- the product of a merger between America West and US Airways in September 2005 -- is a member of the Star Alliance network, which offers our customers 16,000 daily flights to 855 destinations in 155 countries worldwide. This press release and additional information on US Airways can be found at http://www.usairways.com. (LCCG)
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Forward Looking Statements
Certain of the statements contained herein should be considered "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "may," "will," "expect," "intend," "indicate," "anticipate," "believe," "forecast," "estimate," "plan," "guidance," "outlook," "could," "should," "continue" and similar terms used in connection with statements regarding the outlook of US Airways Group, Inc. (the "Company"). Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about expected fuel costs, the revenue and pricing environment, the Company's expected financial performance and operations, future financing plans and needs, overall economic conditions and the benefits of the business combination transaction involving America West Holdings Corporation and US Airways Group, including future financial and operating results and the combined companies' plans, objectives, expectations and intentions. Other forward-looking statements that do not relate solely to historical facts include, without limitation, statements that discuss the possible future effects of current known trends or uncertainties or which indicate that the future effects of known trends or uncertainties cannot be predicted, guaranteed or assured. Such statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of the Company's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results and financial position to differ materially from the Company's expectations. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following: the impact of high fuel costs, significant disruptions in the supply of aircraft fuel and further significant increases to fuel prices; our high level of fixed obligations and our ability to obtain and maintain financing for operations and other purposes; our ability to achieve the synergies anticipated as a result of the merger and to achieve those synergies in a timely manner; our ability to integrate the management, operations and labor groups of US Airways Group and America West Holdings; labor costs and relations with unionized employees generally and the impact and outcome of labor negotiations; the impact of global instability, including the current instability in the Middle East, the continuing impact of the military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the potential impact of future hostilities, terrorist attacks, infectious disease outbreaks or other global events that affect travel behavior; reliance on automated systems and the impact of any failure or disruption of these systems; the impact of future significant operating losses; changes in prevailing interest rates; our ability to obtain and maintain commercially reasonable terms with vendors and service providers and our reliance on those vendors and service providers; security-related and insurance costs; changes in government legislation and regulation; our ability to use pre-merger NOLs and certain other tax attributes; competitive practices in the industry, including significant fare restructuring activities, capacity reductions and in court or out of court restructuring by major airlines; continued existence of prepetition liabilities; interruptions or disruptions in service at one or more of our hub airports; weather conditions; our ability to obtain and maintain any necessary financing for operations and other purposes; our ability to maintain adequate liquidity; our ability to maintain contracts that are critical to our operations; our ability to operate pursuant to the terms of our financing facilities (particularly the financial covenants); our ability to attract and retain customers; the cyclical nature of the airline industry; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; economic conditions; and other risks and uncertainties listed from time to time in our reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission. There may be other factors not identified above of which the Company is not currently aware that may affect matters discussed in the forward-looking statements, and may also cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed. All forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to the Company. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting such estimates. Additional factors that may affect the future results of the Company are set forth in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2007, which is available at http://www.usairways.com.
