Aircraft

US Airways is to unveil one of its Airbus A319 jets in the first of its retro liveries representing its four constituent airlines at a ceremony in San Diego, California next week.

© Jay Selman

The A319 (N742PS, formerly N742US, pictured above) has been painted in the colours of Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA), famous for its "Catch My Smile" livery. Its aircraft were painted in stripes of fuchsia, orange and red with a smile painted under the nose. The US Airways version lacks the fuchsia stripe for reasons unknown at present.

The PSA heritage aircraft will be the first of three A319 jets painted in historic liveries, with aircraft representing Allegheny Airlines and Piedmont Airlines scheduled to join the fleet later this year. In August last year the carrier unveiled its new mainline fleet paint scheme following the merger with Airlines. There will also be an America West Heritage aircraft, an as-yet undisclosed aircraft type.

The aircraft was rolled out last week at Charlotte Douglas international airport in North Carolina