US Airways pilots get ready to take up positions on an informational picket line at Pittsburgh International Airport. The protest was in March.

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Next month, on the second anniversary of the merger between US Airways and America West Airlines, US Airways expects to receive a single operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration, removing the last regulatory hurdle separating the former carriers.

What remains to be done, though, is a complete cultural and physical integration of unionized employees — a task that US Airways Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker acknowledged from the start would be his No. 1 challenge, requiring "a lot of work and communication and candor."

Yet, "I have a lot of faith we can do it," he said in the summer of 2005.

That optimism is being tested as the airline approaches the two-year milestone without unified contracts governing its pilots, flight attendants or mechanics — although the airline reached an accord earlier this month with the unions representing 7,700 baggage handlers and ramp workers. US Airways can continue flying with separate contracts, but no one wants to do that.

The situation "is creating a lot of tension and uncertainty, not just among the pilots but the rest of the labor groups as well," said Tania Bziukiewicz, spokeswoman for the America West unit of the Air Line Pilots Association.

The biggest barrier to a unified airline is the divide that exists between the pilots at the old US Airways, based in the Northeast and Southeast; and the pilots from the old America West, based primarily in the West. For months, the two sides have been squabbling about seniority levels, with the East pilots contending that an arbitrator's ruling in May treats them unfairly, slotting veteran pilots behind pilots at America West with less experience.

And last week, union leaders representing the old US Airways pilots ended their participation in new contract talks, saying they will not renew negotiations until the Tempe-based airline meets their demands — immediate pay equal to the former America West pilots and, starting Sept. 1, retroactive wages along with a "fair interest charge" of 8 percent.

The company has offered to move all pilots to the higher America West scale (meaning raises of 3 to 17 percent) and add a 3 percent increase — a proposal the company says would cost it $122 million per year. But the East pilots rejected that offer — as did the West pilots.

"I think the East is trying to sabotage the company's ability to complete the merger," said Bziukiewicz, referring to the recent withdrawal from contract talks. Her group, she said, "will continue to meet and negotiate with the company … everybody is standing back and watching this and saying, 'What are they doing?' "

Amid the back-and-forth, US Airways' Parker told employees in an Aug. 16 letter that he and his staff will not negotiate with only one group and that they are "concerned about how this seniority integration dispute is dividing our pilots."

If it goes on much longer, the company may request a mediator be added to the joint contract negotiations. "I happen to believe that if we could get everyone together at the negotiating table, we could work something out that meets everyone's needs — though both sides would need to move some from their increasingly hardening positions," Parker said.

In the meantime, Parker asked his 4,403 pilots to "please do what you can to treat each other with respect. … We will find a way through all this — let's try to do so without creating wounds that will take a long time to heal."

Persuading pilots to work together is the most challenging part of any airline merger, said Darryl Jenkins, a longtime airline consultant based in Virginia. "They are the toughest because you have so much at stake," Jenkins said.

Senior pilots have more control over their schedules and the types of planes they fly, which determines how much money they make. "If you get lowered down on the (seniority) list you lose all that, and that, for a pilot, is something worth fighting over."

Added Mike Boyd, an aviation consultant: "This labor issue is getting uglier by the minute. They will settle it at some point; it is just how much bloodshed there will be across the bargaining table."