USAir Will Use Affiliate to Expand Routes in West

USAir said Thursday that it has concluded a marketing agreement with StatesWest Airlines to serve several new routes on the West Coast, including Los Angeles-Bakersfield and Los Angeles-Santa Barbara.

Four-year-old StatesWest, which has six propjets, is based in Phoenix. Its new agreement with USAir, which takes effect July 15, calls for such things as joint frequent-flier programs, coordinated baggage handling and a single computerized reservations system.

StatesWest will remain independently owned but, as part of the USAir Express feeder airline network, its planes will be painted with the USAir colors and logo. USAir already has marketing agreements with four feeder airlines and owns four others in other parts of the country.

Among the USAir Express routes established by the agreement will be Burbank-Lake Havasu City, Ariz., and Burbank-Laughlin, Nev. USAir Express flights will also connect San Diego with Burbank, Santa Barbara and Orange County.

“Our new association with StatesWest confirms USAir’s commitment to remain a major factor in the highly competitive West Coast air market,” said Edwin I. Colodny, chairman and president of USAir. “Their connecting traffic will strengthen our position in intrastate California markets, as well as support our long-distance flights, which connect the West Coast with the Midwestern and Eastern parts of our system.”

Colodny has said several times in recent months that the California market is so highly competitive that no airline can make money there. In recent weeks, United and American airlines have said they will greatly expand service in the corridor between the San Francisco Bay Area and the Los Angeles region. Delta Air Lines and USAir are also major players. Colodny recently told airline analysts that he expected a “blood bath” to ensue.