US Airways tweets porn image, apologises

After facing embarrassment over posting a obscene pornographic image on Twitter in response to an unhappy customer Monday, US Airways finally apologised for the error later in the day.

In a statement, US Airways said: "We apologise for the inappropriate image we recently shared in a Twitter response. Our investigation has determined that the image was initially posted to our Twitter feed by another user."

The pornographic image, which depicted a naked women and a model plane, was included in a response to a customer who complained about her delayed flight from North Carolina to Oregon.

"We captured the tweet to flag it as inappropriate. We immediately realised the error and removed our tweet," the airline said.

We deeply regret the mistake and we are currently reviewing our processes to prevent such errors in the future, it added.

The picture was accompanied by the message: "We welcome feedback, Elle. If your travel is complete, you can detail here for review and follow up."

The image was quickly retweeted around the world.

The airline has 422,000 followers on Twitter.