US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Embraer 170 - US or US Express and operated by whom?

Hi everyone,

Just curious - are the Embraer 170s at US Airways mainline US or US Airways Express? If US Airways Express, who is the operator?

Thanks!

Express, operated by MidAtlantic Airways, flying under the mainline certificate.

-JC

They are express and operated by MID ATLANTIC AIRWAYS. Which is owned by the US Airways Group.

Isn't Mid-Atlantic simply a division of mainline, rather than a separate "wholly owned subsidiary" like Piedmont? In that case, it's rather strange that they are branding the E170's as "express". But I guess this has been discussed before.

Isn't Mid-Atlantic simply a division of mainline, rather than a separate "wholly owned subsidiary" like Piedmont? In that case, it's rather strange that they are branding the E170's as "express". But I guess this has been discussed before.

A rather peculiar situation, I tell ya. In someways operating like a WO but in other ways operating similar to mainline.

Mini-mainline comes to mind. Smaller planes with smaller payscales for typically larger than traditional-express routes.

-JC

They're as big, if not bigger than the Fokker 28's that used to be mainline. But they created a division of Mainline to operate them as Express solely because they could get away with paying the crews Express wages, which are far less than a mainline crew gets. Using the RJ revolution as a springboard, management convinced the unions that these 170s and similar models like the CRJ900 are the key to US's long term survival. We'll see how that shakes out if the airline is in business a year from now.

Thanks for everyone's responses.

Another geeky question :) ... what would the ATC callsign be?

They use "USair" as their callsign.

-JC

They use "USair" as their callsign.

-JC

Is that really true for MidAtlantic flights? I've heard ATC refer to Blue Ridge, Jetlink, Comair and other Express operators of other carriers. I think I've also heard Piedmont mentioned by name, as well (the wholly owned carrier of US).

I enjoy hearing "Cactus flight 245, blah blah blah". America West's ATC code name. I guess because America West is too long to pronounce, and could get tounge tied to sound like American when a controller is whipping out instructions a mile a minute.

I believe they still go under "US" although some regional carriers do have different call signs (DH formerly, etc) But could be wrong.

Callsign is indeed "USAir" because MidAtlantic is entirely owned by USAirways. When flying under United Express, ACA had its own call sign because they were their own carrier, and not property of United.

My understanding is it depends on who owns the certificate which determins the call sign that is used since the E170's operate under the mainline certificate they use USAIR.

Just for fun I rounded up the call signs of some of the past and present Express carriers.

Carrier Callsign
Allegheny ALLEGHENY
Air Midwest AIR MIDWEST
Chautauqua CHAUTAUQUA
Colgan COLGAN
Mesa AIR SHUTTLE
Piedmont PIEDMONT
PSA SMILEY
Shuttle America SHUTTLECRAFT
Trans States WATERSKI

Hmmm ... last month we flew SFO-ORD-BUF. The ORD-BUF leg was on an Embraer 170 (with First Class!!??), operated by Chatauqua. a/c was only about a month old, and was quite nice,especially for that short of a trip.

So, we booked through US, flew UA, and wound up on Chatauqua (with, I believe, UA livery).

What does it all mean? :)

Yes, United's Embraer 170s are equipped with two rows of First Class, a few rows of Economy Plus, and of course regular Economy.

Callsign is indeed "USAir" because MidAtlantic is entirely owned by USAirways. When flying under United Express, ACA had its own call sign because they were their own carrier, and not property of United.
But Comair is entirely owned by Delta!

But Comair is entirely owned by Delta!

The question here is not of ownership, but of what operating certificate the aircraft are operated under. USAirways has, in addition to a number of contract carriers, 4 (soon to be 3) wholly owned Express Carriers. Piedmont, Allegheny (in the process of being merged into Piedmont), and PSA each have their own operating certificates, which is to say that they are each certified by the FAA as airlines in their own right... they just happened to be owned by the same holding company that owns USAirways (The USAirways Group). Mid Atlantic, on the other hand, is not recognized by the FAA as a seperate airline. Their airplanes are operated under the USAirways operating certificate, which means that they answer to the same POI (Principle Operations Inspector, the FAA representative who is assigned to deal with a particular airline on a full time basis) and, therefore, share the same "USAir" callsign.

To respond to the post re: Express callsigns, one of those is actually incorrect. "Smiley" may have been the callsign for Pacific Southwest Airlines - the original PSA with the smile painted on the planes - but the current PSA, which is not an acronym at all, goes by the callsign "Bluestreak."

To respond to the post re: Express callsigns, one of those is actually incorrect. "Smiley" may have been the callsign for Pacific Southwest Airlines - the original PSA with the smile painted on the planes - but the current PSA, which is not an acronym at all, goes by the callsign "Bluestreak."

Actually I thought the original PSA's callsign was simply "PSA."

Actually I thought the original PSA's callsign was simply "PSA."

That could be, too, which is why I said that it may have been "Smiley." I don't really know what their callsign was, but I figured that the person who posted that must have found somewhere that a PSA had that callsign. In any event, I am certain that the current PSA is "Bluestreak," as I hear them many times a day on the radio at work.

I actually found both BLUESTREAK & SMILEY for Pacific Southwest Airlines depending on where I looked so to avoid confusion I just posted the first one I found. Did not know the certificate or call sign was changed after USAir purchased PSA.

I actually found both BLUESTREAK & SMILEY for Pacific Southwest Airlines depending on where I looked so to avoid confusion I just posted the first one I found. Did not know the certificate or call sign was changed after USAir purchased PSA.

Actually the present PSA has nothing to do with Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) which was taken over by USAir.

The PSA Airlines that flies as US Express started up in 1979 or so as Vee Neal Airlines and then changed in the early 1980s to Jetstream International Airlines, flying out of Erie, PA (I've got an old timetable from them around here somewhere). They ended up in the mid-1980s flying feeder as a Piedmont Commuter, eventually providing the express service out of the Dayton hub with some out of Baltimore. They ended up as Allegheny Commuter/USAir Express after the Piedmont-US merger and moved most ops to Pittsburgh. The PSA name didn't come until the mid-90s.... 1995/96 or so.