U.S. Airways will finally have its last flight this fall. On Friday, American Airlines Group Inc. has announced the carrier is bidding farewell after its scheduled flight on Oct. 17.
As U.S. Airways takes its last flight this October, its official online site will be shut down. Airport kiosks and signs will also be altered to American Airlines. The company's Flight 434 will be bound for Philadelphia. It is expected to leave San Francisco at 10 p.m. and arrive in Philadelphia after 6 a.m. on Oct. 17, Focus News has learned.
Since the acquisition of American Airlines in 2013, U.S. Airways has long been foreseen to disappear in the roster of airline names. And when the company opted to keep the more popular American name, U.S. Airways aircrafts will be refurbished with American's colors and logo. However, some of the carrier's vestiges will still remain.
Following the U.S. Airways' last flight announcement on Friday, American Airlines Group Inc. can deal with a major challenge to combine its computer systems flawlessly. Southeast Missourian reported United and Continental have been beleaguered with problems after glitches occurred when they combined their reservation systems in 2012.
Meanwhile, airline companies are now exposed to more disruptions due to high-technology reliance. According to IBN Live, growing computerized operations can ground hundreds of flights if something goes wrong in the systems.
Last week, United Airlines flights suffered problems caused by a faulty router. Thus, over a thousand were delayed and grounded. Because of this, industry experts warned the impact of technology disruptions will continue to increase as airlines shift to electronic luggage tags and paper tickets are swapped for boarding passes stored on smartphones.
As glitches in automated operations increasingly occur, airlines will suffer from profit loss while facing the ire of frustrated passengers. Even if airlines have backup systems, these escalating disruptions have left experts wondering if the companies have sufficiently spent in technological systems since they profited from baggage and cancelation fees.
Trend Micro Inc. Chief Cybersecurity Officer Tom Kellermann also added that airlines should have had much more built-in resiliency and redundancy in the system. And while technology can surely boost customer's experience, the disruption can easily plague the airlines' ability to fly.
In line with U.S. Airways' last flight and the technology disruption issues, American Airlines Group Inc. emphasized the company has established redundancies and disaster-recovery programs in their key automated infrastructures. However, the carrier's chief information officer Maya Leibman said there will be no technology leader that could ensure a 100 percent assurance that no glitches and tech disruptions could ever happen.
For now, American Airlines will have flight reductions in order to lessen the burden on its computer systems. They also admitted about doing more technology work after U.S. Airways' last flight in October.
