Touting synergies created by the merger of America West Airlines and the former US Airways, US Airways Group reported a first-quarter profit of $64 million compared to a profit of $28 million for America West in the year-ago quarter and said it now expects to be profitable for the full year, "even after accounting for merger-related expenses and continued high fuel costs." Excluding special items and a change in accounting principles, net profit was $5 million, which company officials said marked an improvement over net losses of $15 million and $257 million for AWA and US respectively in the year-ago quarter.

During a webcast to discuss the results, US Airways Chairman, President and CEO Doug Parker conceded that comparisons with the year-ago period are not "particularly meaningful" because the merger was accounted for as a purchase. This means that consolidated results for 2006 are compared to the standalone performance of America West Holdings for 2005, since AWAH was the acquirer although the US brand is the one that has been adopted.

"While we recognize we are early in the integration process and we have much work yet to do, these results highlight the tremendous value we have achieved through the merger," said Parker.

US Airways' standalone operating revenues for the first quarter increased 11.2% from the year-ago period to $1.8 billion while expenses decreased 2.4% to $1.76 billion, producing operating income of $43 million compared to an operating loss of $182 million in the year-ago quarter. America West's standalone operating revenues jumped 17.2% to $859 million as expenses rose 13% to $776 million, leading to an 80.4% hike in operating profit to $83 million.

US Airways' mainline yield was up 19% to 13.97 cents on a 14% decrease in RPMs to 8.3 billion. Mainline capacity was down 16.3%, raising load factor 2 points to 75.2% and pushing RASM up 22.2% to 10.50 cents. AWA's standalone mainline yield grew 13.2% to 11.52 cents on a 0.2% decline in RPMs to 5.66 billion. With mainline capacity down 1.4%, load factor improved 0.9 point to 78.6% and RASM increased 16.2% to 10.27 cents.

Parker said the RASM gains can be attributed to cutting "marginal routes" to focus on "operating our best performing routes." Average fares are up about 20%, he said, noting the airline is "selling a lot less of the absurdly low-end fares."