US Airways, headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, the United States, will launch two international flights from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the United States.

The low-cost airline will offer seasonal non-stop daily service to Oslo in Norway and Birmingham in the United Kingdom from Philadelphia International Airport starting in May 2009 and ending in September 30, 2009.

On the new routes, US Airways will use a single-aisle Boeing 757-200 aircraft offering a mix of 164 economy-class seats and 12 business-class seats.

At present, United States-bound passengers from Norway have only one non-stop option – the daily flight operated by Continental Airlines (based in Houston, Texas, the United States) from Oslo to Newark Airport, near New York. The Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) had operated that route was operated by for years, but it stopped flying after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

US Airways, which merged with America West Airlines in 2005, is the fifth largest carrier in the United States and employees over 35,000 people. It is a member of the Star Alliance network and operates flights to destinations in North America, Central America, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and Europe. US Airways operates hubs in Charlotte, Philadelphia and Phoenix and also maintains focus-city operations at Washington Reagan National Airport, New York LaGuardia Airport, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh and Boston.

With the new service, Oslo will be US Airways’ second destination in Scandinavia from Philadelphia, the other being Stockholm in Sweden; and Birmingham will become the airline’s fifth destination in the United Kingdom from Philadelphia.

A statement from US Airways said that the two planned routes are subject to approval by the foreign governments and that customers can begin booking the two new flights from October 25, 2008.

The website birminghammail.net quoted Peter Vella, business development director of Birmingham Airport, as saying: “The starting of daily flights to Philadelphia by US Airways will open up a vast number of onward destinations to Midland travellers. US Airways will operate daily from May 2009 until September 2009, with onward flights available to Boston, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando, Miami, San Francisco and Tampa – and all the connections are within two hours. And, officials of Birmingham Airport are anxious to persuade the airline to operate the route all year round, Currently, only one airline, Continental Airlines, operates scheduled trans-Atlantic flights from Birmingham with its daily services to Newark Airport.”

American Airlines, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the United States, and a wholly owned subsidiary of AMR Corporation, had suspended its Birmingham to Chicago route in 2003.