Despite the elevated price of fuel, Tempe-based US Airways began its new seasonal international service from Charlotte, N.C., to Dublin and Madrid last week - routes that were announced in September 2010.
Other seasonal routes, such as a second flight out of Philadelphia to Frankfurt have been extended and started in March, rather than April.
While a recent US Airways capacity-adjustment announcement will not affect the number of international flights in the second quarter, it could have an impact on international flights in the back half of the year.
"It's not one of these things where we are going to stop flying somewhere, we will do it in a way that maybe we end seasonal service a little early, maybe we fly somewhere 5 times a week instead of seven times a week - things like that," said Andrew Nocella, senior vice president of marketing and planning for the airline.
Although revenue per available seat mile, a key industry metric, looks good for international flights during the summer, US Airways' largest cost - fuel - has climbed in the past several months, Nocella said.
It has meant capacity reductions across the board for several airlines.
The price of fuel will also likely impact trans-Atlantic capacity in 2012, keeping it about flat with this year, Nocella said.
US Airways is a small player in the international air market relative to other domestic airlines.
In 2010, it attributed about 12 percent of its total revenue to international flights.
That won't change dramatically anytime soon, Nocella said.
US Airways probably won't even consider direct flights to Europe out of Phoenix until at least 2013 or 2014, he said.
