US Airways and America West Encounter Beverage Battle

One of the longest- standing debates in American culture -- Coke or Pepsi? -- is now coming to US Airways. By the first of the year, the airline says it hopes to figure out which line of soft drinks to offer on all its planes. It's yet another detail springing from the September merger between US Airways and America West.

US Airways offers Coke products. America West offers Pepsi.

A similar battle is brewing for beer: US Airways offers Miller, while America West serves Budweiser.

The airline says a "catering logistics team" will make the call on the drinks after weighing customer preferences and costs.

One drink seems sure to have a place in the beverage cart, though: Diet Dr Pepper, a drink unaffiliated with the Coke and Pepsi families. It's a favorite of US Airways CEO Doug Parker. -- Tony Mecia

In one of the few visible signs of the merger locally, planes with America West's red-and-white paint job have started arriving and taking off at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.

Turns out they're run by Mesa Air Group, a regional-jet operator that flies for both airlines under the names US Airways Express and America West Express, a US Airways spokesman said.

The airline is in the process of painting its planes in a new design that is white with blue lettering and a blue tail and belly. The paint jobs are expected to be finished in 2008. -- Tony Mecia

The drive to represent US Airways' 3,500 mechanics is heating up, in a battle that pits the International Brotherhood of Teamsters against the International Association of Machinists.Employees of the airline's other major work groups -- pilots, flight attendants and gate agents -- are represented by the same unions at both US Airways and America West, so the employee integrations take place largely within those unions.

But the Teamsters and IAM are battling over which union will represent mechanics. The larger IAM (on the US Airways side) is asking a federal panel to designate it as the union that represents all mechanics, while the Teamsters (on the America West side) are opposing that move and say an election should decide the matter. A decision from the National Mediation Board could come any time.

Last week, in a message to members, the IAM blasted the Teamsters for engaging in a "vicious misinformation campaign to turn brother against brother."

The Teamsters, in turn, have derided the IAM's "bankruptcy-negotiated wages" and say the union has engaged in "scare tactics." -- Tony Mecia

Charlotte Observer

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