US Airways gets Chapter 11 clearance

US Airways received final approval Friday to exit bankruptcy protection for the second time in three years and merge with America West Holdings Corp.

The ruling allows the airline to be purchased by America West, the nation’s eighth-largest airline, as soon as Sept. 27.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stephen Mitchell approved the airline’s reorganization plan – of which the merger is the centerpiece – after allowing the airline to provide $12 million in severance pay to 11 executives who will not be given jobs at the merged airline. Unions had said the package was excessive given the cut in pay and benefits absorbed by rank-and-file workers.

US Airways chief executive officer Bruce Lakefield said after Friday’s hearing that US Airways’ management team salvaged an airline and 29,000 jobs that many people had written off when the carrier filed for bankruptcy in September.