America West Express was the

brand name A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

for America West Airlines commuter and regional flights operated by Mesa Air Group's

Mesa Airlines Mesa Airlines, Inc., is an American regional airline based in Phoenix, Arizona. It is an FAA Part 121–certificated air carrier operating under air carrier certificate number MASA036A issued on June 29, 1979. It is a subsidiary of Mesa Air ...

under a code share agreement. Today Mesa Airlines operates for

American Eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

operated America West Express from hubs at

Sky Harbor International Airport Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is a civil–military public airport east of downtown Phoenix, in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is Arizona's largest and busiest airport, and among the largest commercial airports in th ...

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...

and McCarran International Airport in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

to regional destinations. Chautauqua Airlines also operated America West Express regional jet service via a code sharing agreement in support of the America West hub in Columbus, Ohio. America West Express

fleet Fleet may refer to: Vehicles *Fishing fleet *Naval fleet *Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles *Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company Places Canada * Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet England * The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Beach ...

consisted of 61

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...

and

regional jet A regional jet (RJ) is a jet-powered regional airliner with fewer than 100 seats. The first one was the Sud-Aviation Caravelle in 1959, followed by the widespread Yakovlev Yak-40, Fokker F-28, and BAe 146. The 1990s saw the emergence of ...

aircraft.

History

America West Express started as a regional carrier in association with America West Airlines with a hub at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona. The name "America West Express" was taken from the old America West Airlines cargo service which had begun in 1985. America West initially operated

de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier Aerospace, Bombard ...

turboprop aircraft with its own flight crews; however, on November 30, 1992, America West signed a codeshare agreement with

to operate America West Airlines' regional and commuter services as America West Express. In the mid-1990s, with the opening of the America West Airlines hub at

Port Columbus International Airport John Glenn Columbus International Airport is an international airport located east of downtown Columbus, Ohio. Formerly known as Port Columbus International Airport, it is managed by the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, which also ove ...

in Columbus, Ohio, America West Airlines used Chautauqua Airlines to provide

Embraer ERJ-145 The Embraer ERJ family (for Embraer Regional Jet, model names EMB-135, EMB-140 and EMB-145) are regional jets designed and produced by the Brazilian aerospace company Embraer. The family includes the ERJ135 (37 passengers), ERJ140 (44 passenger ...

regional jet service to feed the hub. When the Columbus hub was shut down, the Chautauqua Airlines code share was discontinued, leaving Mesa as the sole operator of AW Express services. In 2003, America West greatly increased the size of their express operation by starting new routes operated by regional jets from its hub at McCarran International Airport in

. In 2007, America West Express was branded as US Airways Express following the merger of America West with US Airways.

Destinations

Operators and fleet

Fleet

Historical regional jet fleet

The America West Express brand, through its various regional and commuter airline partners, operated other twinjet aircraft over the years besides the Bombardier ( Canadair) regional jet aircraft including the following types: *

* Fokker 70

Historical turboprop fleet

The America West Express brand, through its various regional and commuter airline partners, operated a variety of twin turboprop aircraft over the years including the following types: * Beechcraft 1900D * Bombardier Q200 *

Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia The Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia is a twin-turboprop 30-passenger commuter airliner designed and manufactured by the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. The EMB 120 began development during 1974. While initially conceived as a modular series of ...

Services

America West Express operated all of its fleet in a single coach class configuration. However, the CRJ-700s and CRJ-900s did offer dual class service at one point with separate first and coach class cabins. This was dual class service was then subsequently dropped when it was determined that customers were not willing to pay extra for limited ''first class'' amenities on these short flights. Increasing the number of coach seats thus resulted in increased revenue.

Identifying codes

Since these were code share flights, the America West Airlines codes were used for customer purposes. ''HPX'' indicates America West Express flights. However, the flights were actually operated under the

codes.

References

External links

America West Airlines website

Mesa Airlines website
{{US Airways Group Defunct regional airline brands Defunct regional airlines of the United States America West Holdings Defunct airlines of the United States Airlines based in Arizona