No more movies on US Airways flights

US Airways Group Inc. said it would remove in-flight movie systems from its domestic aircraft to save about $10 million a year in fuel and other costs.

The carrier decided to pull the entertainment systems because the number of people paying $5 for headsets has dropped while money spent on jet fuel, maintenance and studio fees has climbed. The video systems add about 500 pounds to a plane’s weight, increasing fuel use.

“When you combine dramatically increasing expense with dramatically decreasing revenue, that is a bad recipe and we simply can’t afford to do it anymore,” Travis Christ, US Airways vice president for sales and marketing, said Tuesday.

The systems will be turned off Nov. 1 and removed from the Airbus SAS A320-family aircraft as the planes undergo other maintenance, the Tempe, Ariz.-based carrier said. The number of passengers buying airline headsets to hear the movies “has gone off a cliff” because they either bring their own,” or they opt to listen to or watch their own personal electronic devices, Christ said.

US Airways had hoped to replace the existing systems with lightweight, individual devices. An 85% jump in the price of jet fuel in the last year has changed those plans, Christ said. New Airbus planes delivered to US Airways won’t have any entertainment systems.

“What was economical 18 months ago is not economical today,” he said. “The things we were looking at for tomorrow, in general, have had to be put on hold.”