 After the merger, losses mounted and service reductions followed.Saddled with debt from two acquisitions and new aircraft, the airline struggled in the early 1980s, and even introduced a human mascot version of Herman the Duck.They reduced service to Phoenix, a former hub of Hughes Airwest, citing their inability to compete with non-union airlines there and eventually dismantled the former extensive route system operated by Hughes Airwest in the western U.S.