America West

America West is one of the United States' ten major airlines. Its IATA designator is HP. One of the 1980s' greatest business success stories, it started with Boeing 737 flights from its base in Phoenix, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada and Los Angeles, California. It soon started flying Boeing 747s to Nagoya Japan, and expanded its 737 flights to Mexican destinations.

The Japan service was discontinued and the 747s were retired in 1991. Services were then inaugurated to Canada. During the 1990s it filed for bankruptcy protection, but survived. America West continues flights throughout Western North America, including intrastate service to Tucson with 737s, 757s, and DeHavilland Dash 8 aircraft, and it has added the Airbus A320 to its fleet.

America West also flies to various points in the east of the USA and has a hub at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. The airline's central offices are located in Tempe, Arizona. The main building overlooks Sky Harbor International Airport. The airline also flies to Costa Rica.

The airline formerly had a hub in Port Columbus International Airport in Columbus, Ohio. It was dropped, and Delta Connection carrier Chautauqua Airlines took it over as a mini-hub.

America West has promotional partnerships with the Phoenix Suns NBA team, the 2001 World Series champion Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team and the Arizona Cardinals NFL team.

The Suns' home-court of America West Arena is named after the airline.

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Copyright note

Photo copyrighted, and courtesy of, Mr. Tobias Werner