"Nerd bird" to make its final flight

In 1992, American Airlines began shuttling passengers from San Jose to Austin, Texas.

It was a huge deal for residents of both cities at the time (I lived in Austin when the daily flight began and can't begin to explain the civic pride that Austinites expressed over having "made it" as a tech hub), as programmers and engineers in both towns found it the most convenient way to zip between two of the highest-tech cities in the country without having to stop in Phoenix, Denver, or Salt Lake City. Because of the number of laptops you'd see open on any given flight, it was quickly and endearingly dubbed the "nerd bird."

Now the nerd bird is preparing for its swan song: On August 25, American will discontinue both of the flights it makes between the two cities each day, making the route extinct thanks to a souring economy and the general decline in air traffic. (San Jose alone averages 16 percent fewer departures now than it did in 2007.)

The nerds will have other Bay Area travel options, at least: Southwest flies direct to Austin from nearby Oakland, and United and JetBlue operate direct flights to Austin from SFO. American has said that if business picks up it might reinstate the nerd bird, but is "in no position to promise at this stage." And hey, there's always Amtrak, right?

Will the nerd bird return or has it gone extinct? Ironically, techies are the passengers most likely to use alternative means of communicating and commuting through the use of videoconferencing and other virtual technologies. Perhaps the nerd bird has outlived its usefulness, a victim not of the economy, but of the high-tech world which its passengers worked in.

Squawk!