You've got to be truly warped to get into the commercial-aviation sector. You have to buy when things look terrible, and not get too excited when things start to look great. Same goes for writing about the sector. Based on my experience with airliners like Alaska Air (NYSE:ALK) and Southwest (NYSE:LUV), I know that if I say anything positive about US Airways (NYSE:LCC) or its management, I'm going to hear howls of protest from those who'd rather I believe that the company horsewhips its workers.

Oh, well, do your worst. My email service has a "delete" button, and I'm not afraid to use it.

Domestic airlines are still in a scary state, but there were some definite positives to US Airways' first-quarter results reported last week. Consolidating the performances of US Air and America West, revenue per available seat mile rose 23% on a roughly 8% decline in available miles. In short, US Air is raising fares (up about 20% so far this year) and avoiding half-empty planes whenever possible. Believe it or not, it's operating things like -- gasp! -- a business.

On the expense side of things, I depart a bit from how other folks might choose to look at the numbers. After all, I've been reading about how the company posted earnings of $64 million if you include various one-time gains, and earnings of about $5 million when you exclude various items. The trouble is, there's an item here -- transition costs of about $46 million -- that I'm not so sure I want to exclude, given (as a Goldman Sachs analyst observed) that these businesses seem to be perpetually in a state of transition.

Even if you do exclude those items, costs per available seat mile, excluding fuel, were still up more than 4% in each unit -- not bad, but still leaving the possibility of doing better.

Knock on wood: US Airways should be able to maintain these higher fares for at least a little while -- Independence failed, Delta is cutting back, and Southwest (NYSE:LUV) may be under pressure to raise fares to mitigate the expiration of fuel hedges. Of course, we're still talking about the airline business here.

Honestly, if somebody told me that I had to own a U.S. airline stock, I'd probably rather gargle with a bullet instead. Well, OK, I'd probably look first at Continental (NYSE:CAL) and Alaska Air, but I can't deny that the changes at US Airways seem to be making a difference. Just tread lightly, fellow Fools, for this is a tough industry in which to make a lasting profit.

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Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).