US Airways' "MetroJet": The Little Airline That Couldn't

[bakejobb_23]

The History:

Many major carriers have tried their own low cost subsidiary in one way or another. Delta had “Song”, Continental had “Continental Lite”, United had “Ted” for example. US Airways had “MetroJet” which was launched in 1998. Just the year before, USAir rebranded into US Airways and the MetroJet move was supposed to increase profits for US Airways and to try and gain a competitive edge over other airlines like Southwest and AirTran.

MetroJet offered a single class of economy service on the older USAir 737-200s and was based out of Baltimore BWI. Each of the roughly 120 passengers were allowed two carry-on bags as long as they could fit under the seats. It also had the bonus that seats were at 33 inches of pitch. Passengers could also use their US Airways loyalty miles, and both airlines held very similar policies, making it a surprising success of sorts. From what I found online, most customers seemed to love the airline.

Probably similar, if not exactly how the cabins were laid out:





















They started with 4 flights out of Baltimore (BWI) to Cleveland, Ft. Lauderdale, Providence, and Manchester (Boston) using 5 aircraft. Soon after they were flying to places like Miami, Washington Dulles, and Atlanta.

August 1998 Route Map:


Route map from 2000:

They flew to 25 total cities listed below, not all at the same time either I believe:

• Albany
• Atlanta
• Baltimore (BWI)
• Birmingham
• Boston
• Buffalo
• Chicago
• Cleveland
• Columbus
• Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood
• Fort Myers
• Hartford
• Jacksonville
• Manchester (Boston)
• Miami
• Milwaukee
• New Orleans
• New York City (LGA)
• Orlando
• Providence
• Raleigh/Durham
• St. Louis
• Syracuse
• Tampa
• Tucson
• Washington, D.C. (Dulles)
• West Palm Beach

Issues happened in 1999 however. It had become counterintuitive to the overall goal of the US Airways parent company. US Airways service began to deteriorate in standards and slip on its mainline services. Instead of pulling customers from the likes of Southwest and AirTran, it siphoned its own mainline customers which didn’t help its already shaky financial troubles. That coupled with the much older and more expensive 737-200 aircraft began to quickly cripple both airlines. The attacks of September 11th in New York was the final nail in the coffin. Just one week after that disaster, US Airways announced they would close MetroJets doors for the last time in December. This also led to most of the 737-200s onto secondary lives in other countries as well.

N241US at BOS in Jan 2001, one of my favorite aviation photos:


A collection of MetroJets and a mainline at Ft. Lauderdale:


MetroJets, Shuttle and mainline all together at BOS April 2000:


One actually still survives today flying for Indonesian carrier “Jayawijaya Dirgantara” (PK-JRA) at over 40 years old:


Also for the memes…Phuket, what about Phuket Airlines...They adopted a hybrid of the MetroJet that even extended into painting a few other aircraft in the red and grey scheme as well for a few years:

 

[bakejobb_23]

The Fleet:

In total there were 49 732s under the MetroJet brand and featured two prominent liveries. Most of these jets either originated from Piedmont or USAir. The “standard” livery looked a lot like the brand new mainline branded darker schemed jets with the dark tail and stylized flag staying the same but the fuselage was now the bright red from the tail detail with grey on the bottom of the fuselage. Separating both colors was a white and navy blue/black cheat line. The “US Airways” title replaced that of “MetroJet” with a smaller “US Airways” title under the first handful of windows. It was known to some as the “Flying Tomato” colors.

N247US:


From the deep research I’ve done looking at real world photos, all of these aircraft appeared in this red livery:
Key-
*= appears in both liveries at certain points
**=confirmed to be retired in red scheme
N241US**
N242US
N243US**
N244US
N245US*,**
N246US
N247US
N248US**
N249US
N251AU*,**
N252AU*,**
N253AU
N254AU
N255AU
N256AU**
N257AU**
N259AU
N261AU
N264AU
N265AU*, **
N266AU**
N267AU
N268AU
N269AU**
N270AU**
N271AU**
N272AU
N273AU**
N274US*,**
N277AU**
N278AU
N279AU
N280AU
N281AU
N282AU*,**
N283AU
N284AU
N285AU
N286AU
N287AU
N288AU

N241US with a mismatched nose cone:


There was also a hybrid livery, where the 90s era USAir colors remained the same except only getting “upgraded” with the “MetoJet” titles on the fuselage. I assume this was the quick fix to get all aircraft in service and “proper” before the new red paint was finally applied. It also (accidentally or not) offered that bridge gap so passengers knew it was all under the same parent company as the rebrand to US Airways only happened just the year before.

N265AU:


Here are the regs that I can confirm appeared in this hybrid scheme:
Key-
*= appears in both liveries at certain points
**=confirmed to be retired in hybrid scheme
N231US
N232US
N233US
N245US*
N251AU*
N252AU*
N260AU**
N262AU
N263AU
N265AU*
N274US*
N275AU
N276AU**
N280AU
N282AU*

From the 46 MetroJets sitting in Mojave here, 7 retired still in the hybrid colors:

 

[bakejobb_23]

The Models:
This is a scale model forum after all! There have only been three total models for this airline in 1:400 scale (only 6, technically 7, total across all various scales!). One is by Aeroclassics and one by Seattle Model Aircraft Company. The third was a sample produced by GeminiJets in 2001. Honestly, I'm a little shocked there’s more than one released in the first place for how short lived this airline was. Let’s start with the oldest released one first!

N288AU:


N288AU is in the bright red scheme the airline is known for. It was released in 2004 with 500 units by SMAC and was exclusive to JetCollector.com. It’s on what I believe is the Aeroclassics 737-200 mould which isn’t the worst thing on the eyes, even by today’s standards. This little guy is very quickly becoming a gem in my collection. I’ve only seen two for sale online over the last few months and this one was by far the cheapest at 80usd.





N288AU began his life with USAir in 1984 and served with them until being used for MetroJet in 1999. By 2002 the aircraft was in the hands of “Star Air” as PK-ALV. They ceased operations June 1, 2005 and the frame was moved to “Sriwijaya Air” as PK-CJI. It was finally retired in 2013 and is preserved at the "Japara Ourland Aquatic Park" in Japara, Indonesia...unfortunately not in the bright red scheme though.

 

[bakejobb_23]

N232US:


Next is N232US, made by Aeroclassics. This model was released in 2007 and wears the bare metal USAir hybrid. There were only 320 units made. It’s using the same mould as the last one which is fantastic for continuity's sake. For all possile models to be made this one is the odd one out being in the hybrid colors. I cant imagine this one gets done about ever again. Thankfully AC picked a reg that stayed in these hybrid colors the entire time it served with MetroJet.





N232US was originally delivered to Piedmont in 1980 as N778N. In 1989 it ended up in the hands of USAir due to the merger and flew with them until it became the MetroJet shown here in 1999. In 2003 “Aviasca” picked up the frame and flew it as XA-TXD till it was retired in 2008 and scrapped in 2009. This frame never made it to the red scheme as it is shown in a photo stored in Mojave in 2003 after MetroJet folded.

 

[bakejobb_23]

N285AU:


Photos from "alligator_711" on ebay, thanks to him for these!

The last model is of N285AU in the red scheme. Six total sample models were made in 2001 and they’re definitely hard to come by. Thankfully, someone on ebay with a pricey listing has supplied me with these photos for all of us to see it. I hope to purchase this model in the distant future. It might end up being my holy grail someday.



N285AU began its life with USAir back in 1984 and flew with them until going under the MetroJet brand in 2000. In 2002 it was moved to “Star Air” as PK-ALN. When they ceased operation in 2005, it belonged to “Sriwijaya Air” as PK-CJP until being stored in 2013. As of 2016 it is now turned into a restaurant in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.





I hope you all enjoyed this! It was a lot of fun to research and put all this together. It’s a shame these were so short lived as the livery was super cool and unique at the time. It was a great contrast to the full dark colors of the Mainline and complimented it well aesthetically. This niche livery has become one of my favorites recently and I hope more models of this get released. While I think there’s a lot of other subjects that need quality models in 1:400 scale, I'd love to see another bright red 732 in the preorder section again. Perhaps this is a niche enough subject for @3D Design Deck to get to sometime soon. Enjoy!

 

[LeoMuse747]

This was really a great read! Nice birds of a nice airline... why did MetroJet shutdown so quickly, by the way? Although it doesn't surprise me, since these low-cost "airline-within-an-airline" were all business failures in the end.

 

[MIAv8Diecast]

This was really a great read! Nice birds of a nice airline... why did MetroJet shutdown so quickly, by the way? Although it doesn't surprise me, since these low-cost "airline-within-an-airline" were all business failures in the end.

I won’t speak for MetroJet specifically but a lot of the major airlines post de-regulation in the U.S. played around with smaller branched off airlines from the main carriers to capture market share in different forms to maintain competitiveness… You could look at Delta Shuttle, MetroJet, Song, Continental Lite, Shuttle by United to name a few. All were unsustainable in the long run causing too much liability away from the main carriers to own, operate and finance as they all dissolved in the long term as it was no longer competitive.