US Airways, I'm afraid, is circling the drain. It started the day the United merger was announced, and has been an uninterrupted downfall ever since. This airline was near and dear to me since childhood. Growing up in Rochester, NY, they were by FAR the largest airline in town. As a kid, they flew nonstop mainline jets (this was before anybody knew what an RJ was, unless you count the F-28) to a bunch of cities ... Syracuse, Boston, LaGuardia, Newark, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Baltimore, Washington Reagan, Charlotte, Toronto, and even (for a time) Orlando. I flew them all the time to visit my mother in Charlotte. I have family in Pittsburgh and USAir (as it was back in the day) was numero uno there, of course. So, it's sad in a way to see them go. However, it is not at all unexpected.
Want to know something funny? I was going through some of my files from Riddle recently. I wrote a research paper in 1996 about how USAir could save itself from financial ruin. Eight years later, its amazing how not much has changed.
As to the assets, a hidden jewel could be the hub at CLT. It is the only airport with the facilities (runways, terminal, etc.) to be able to compete with ATL in the southeast. People like to call it a "small market", but they forget ... it is an enormous banking center, second only to New York as a hub for banking in the US. Two of the ten largest banks in the country are headquartered in Charlotte, as are several other major companies.
As I've been saying for a while now ... these sure are interesting times we live in.
FL270