US Airways files for bankruptcy protection

US Airways Group Inc., the nation’s seventh largest airline, today filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in two years.

The company’s president vowed to continue restructuring the airline into a low-cost carrier during the bankruptcy process.

“We have come too far and accomplished too much to simply stop the process and not succeed,” said Bruce Lakefield, US Airways’ president and chief executive.

“A restructured US Airways with low costs and low fares will be a dynamic competitor.”

The Chapter 11 filing in US Bankruptcy Court in Alexandria came after US Airways was unable to obtain $800m (€652m) in annual cost cuts from its workers’ unions that the airline said it needed to stay afloat.