The company posted earnings of $305 million, or $3.25 a share, compared with a loss of $3 million, or 20 cents a share, for the same period a year ago.

The Phoenix-based carrier — the No. 2 operator at McCarran International Airport, where it operates one of its five hubs — attributed the positive earnings results to the effects of the merger between America West Airlines, a familiar name in the Southwest, and US Airways, which was on the verge of liquidation.

But the airline's management and aviation analysts have said the hardest part of the merger lies ahead. One of the issues: How do you integrate employees from US Airways, an East Coast institution that has been around since 1939, with America West, a relative new kid on the block founded in 1983?

The issue is further complicated by union representation (different unions have represented employees for US Airways and America West) and geography (the cost of living in Phoenix and Las Vegas is far different than costs in US Airways strongholds of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Charlotte, N.C.)

How are these big changes going to be made? The airline management has made it clear that communication will be important.

To effect that communication, US Airways schedules Town Hall meetings twice a year in its biggest cities.

Such a meeting occurred this week when US Airways chief executive Doug Parker met employees in a stuffy meeting room behind one of those doors at McCarran that you pass on your way to your flights.

Parker started the session with an explanation of the earnings and a short state-of-the-airline talk, then opened it up for questions.

About 150 employees aired their comments, vented their frustrations and offered their opinions while Parker and a handful of managers explained the hows and whys of the airline's strategy.

The mood was light. Parker is a young, likable executive who is comfortable with his employees. The workers clearly appreciate his willingness to take time out to talk one-on-one with the people who deal with the public every day.

Not surprisingly, many of the questions dealt with employee compensation and why former US Airways workers get one thing while former America West workers get another, and why Phoenix workers are on one pay scale while Las Vegans are on another.

US Airways spokesman Phil Gee said Town Hall sessions are designed to foster communication with employees. In Las Vegas, there were sessions in the afternoon and evening.

Northwest jitters: Passengers holding mid-August tickets on Northwest Airlines would be wise to keep an eye on CNBC or CNN this week.

The Association of Flight Attendants notified the airline that it intends to conduct random strikes throughout the Northwest system beginning at 7:01 p.m., Las Vegas time, on Aug. 15.

The union had demonstrations and leafleting in Detroit, Memphis, Boston, Los Angeles and New York's LaGuardia Airport last week and in Seattle this week.

Northwest isn't a huge player in Las Vegas, offering 15 flights a day to 12 markets with most of them to the airline's Minneapolis and Detroit hubs. Northwest also has two or three flights a week to smaller markets like Des Moines, Iowa, and Fargo, N.D.

The union's CHAOS strikes involve random job actions by airport, flight or gate, which makes it more difficult for management to prepare for.

Booking online: Buying tickets through an airline's Internet site usually is a good way to go to save money, although two airlines recently took opposite approaches toward drawing attention to their sites.

Delta Air Lines quietly sliced away some incentives to book on delta.com recently. Customers who booked their flights on the site received 1,000 SkyMiles on Delta's frequent-flier program. Without fanfare, the airline cut the incentive to 500 miles, reasoning that the promotion served its purpose and tickets purchased on delta.com had increased by more than 100 percent in the past few years.

Meanwhile, Frontier Airlines announced that as of this week tickets purchased by phone with a reservation agent will cost an additional $5.

Frontier, which offers seven round trips a day between Las Vegas and Denver, is following the lead of United Airlines, which already charges an extra $5 for reservations by phone and an extra $15 for reservations made at the airport.

Wright update: The Wright Amendment circus continues.

Neither the House nor the Senate introduced legislation based on the compromise developed by the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, Southwest and American airlines and the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Love Field on the Wright Amendment, which bans flights to Love Field from all but eight states.

One possible reason: The U.S. Department of Justice weighed in on the compromise and determined that it would be anticompetitive and in violation of the Sherman Act.

The entities involved in the compromise, of course, deny this and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, wrote to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and politely told him and his attorneys to butt out, saying it's a Department of Transportation matter.

The Justice Department got involved when representatives from JetBlue said they could be interested in serving Love Field and the compromise involving American and Southwest could keep them out.

Will we ever see service between Las Vegas and Dallas on Southwest? In light of the latest developments, not anytime in the near future.