PSA Airlines

For the defunct airline, see Pacific Southwest Airlines.
PSA Airlines
IATA ICAO Callsign
OH JIA BLUE STREAK
Founded 1980 (as Vee Neal Airlines)
December 1983 (as Jetstream International Airlines)
Commenced operations 1995
AOC # VNAA111A
Hubs As American Eagle:
Charlotte Douglas International Airport
Focus cities As American Eagle:
Philadelphia International Airport
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
Frequent-flyer program AAdvantage
Airport lounge Admirals Club
Alliance Star Alliance (affiliate; 2004-2014)
Oneworld (affiliate; 2014-present)
Fleet size 115
Destinations 68
Parent company American Airlines Group
Headquarters Vandalia, Ohio
Key people Dion Flannery (President)[1]
Employees 2,400+ (2015)
Website www.psaairlines.com

PSA Airlines, Inc. is an American regional airline headquartered at Dayton International Airport in Vandalia, Ohio,[2] that flies under the American Eagle brand for American Airlines. PSA is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines Group. PSA has crew bases in Knoxville, Tennessee; Charlotte, North Carolina; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Dayton, Ohio. It has maintenance bases in Charlotte, North Carolina; Cincinnati, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio and at the Akron–Canton Airport in Green, Ohio.

As of October 2013, PSA Airlines employed 1,080 people.[3] The airline operates 569 daily flights in 68 cities as American Eagle for American Airlines.[3]

History

Vee Neal Airlines

Named after its owner Vee Neal Frey, Vee Neal Airlines was established in 1979 and began initial operations from Latrobe, Pennsylvania. In May 1980, the operation was expanded to include scheduled air services between Latrobe and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with a Cessna 402.[4]

Jetstream International Airlines

Between June 1980 and 1982, Henry Fish and a John P. Leemhuis lobbied civic and business leaders in the Erie, Pennsylvania area to raise venture capital to expand Vee Neal Airlines. After receiving financing, 6 Jetstream aircraft were ordered to fashion a route system that would insure air service links on a nonstop basis to key cities. In December 1983, the airline was renamed to Jetstream International Airlines (JIA) after it took delivery of its first two Jetstream aircraft. Within a year of renaming the airline, it relocated its maintenance department and corporate headquarters from Latrobe to Erie, Pennsylvania.

In September 1985, the airline affiliated itself with Piedmont Airlines. Jetstream International Airlines was acquired by Piedmont Airlines in August 1986 and became a wholly owned subsidiary shortly thereafter. In 1987, Jetstream once again moved its corporate headquarters to Dayton, Ohio and established maintenance bases in Dayton and Hagerstown, Maryland.

Following the USAir acquisition of Piedmont in November 1987, JIA began operating as Allegheny Commuter from the USAir hub in Philadelphia. In July 1988, JIA became a wholly owned subsidiary of USAir and operated in the colors of US Air Express, later US Airways Express. In 1989, JIA began feeder service to USAir's Indianapolis hub and moved the maintenance base in Hagerstown to Indianapolis in 1990. This maintenance base was closed in May 1994 in conjunction with a further shift of flying to USAir's Pittsburgh hub.[4]

PSA Airlines

In November 1995, USAir renamed Jetstream International Airlines to PSA Airlines in order to protect the trademark of Pacific Southwest Airlines, which was once a large carrier on the West Coast that USAir had acquired. Later in that month, PSA also moved their corporate headquarters to Vandalia, Ohio. By March 1996, all of Jetstream International Airlines' namesake Jetstream 31 aircraft had been replaced and the airline had transitioned to a fleet of Dornier 328 turboprop aircraft. In February 1997, USAir changed their name to US Airways and PSA began operating under the US Airways Express brand.

In August 2002, US Airways Group, Inc. and its subsidiary, PSA airlines, filed voluntary petitions for reorganization, under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. PSA emerged from Chapter 11 on March 31, 2003. As a result of its emergence from Chapter 11, PSA Airlines was chosen for placement of Bombardier CRJ-200 and CRJ-700 aircraft. In September 2004, the last Dornier 328 was retired from the PSA fleet.

In April 2004, a new crew base was opened in Philadelphia while the crew bases in Akron and Pittsburgh were later closed in November 2004. A new maintenance base was opened in Philadelphia in September 2004 and another in Charlotte, North Carolina was opened in January 2005, replacing the Pittsburgh maintenance base. In February 2005, PSA opened its Charlotte crew base.

In September 2004, US Airways Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries (including PSA) for the second time filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. US Airways and its subsidiaries emerged from Chapter 11 and the America West Airlines/US Airways merger was officially made final on September 27, 2005. The recently opened Philadelphia crew and maintenance bases also closed in September 2005.

In January 2008, US Airways flight activity at the Pittsburgh International Airport was significantly reduced due to market condition changes. US Airways mainline employees took over the US Airways Express flight operations at the airport and PSA ceased providing ground handling services at the airport.[4]

In August 2015, PSA Airlines announced a maintenance base would be established at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.[5]

In August 2016, PSA Airlines announced a new 45,000 square foot maintenance base would be opening in the later part of 2016 at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (KGSP). [6]

Fleet

As of August 2016, the PSA Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:[7]

PSA Airlines Fleet
Type Total Orders Passengers Notes
F Y+ Y Total
Bombardier CRJ-200 35 — — — 50 50
Bombardier CRJ-700 26 35 9 — 58 67
9 — 56 65 Transfer of remaining 35 CRJ700s from Envoy Air will resume April 2017.
9 — 54 63
Bombardier CRJ-900 54 — 12 32 32 76 Deliveries will continue through 2016[8]
Total 115 35

In September 2013, PSA Airlines' pilots ratified tentative agreements with the managements of PSA Airlines and its parent company, US Airways Group Inc., that guarantee the placement of 30 large regional jets at PSA.[9] In December 2013, American Airlines announced that it had ordered 30 Bombardier CRJ900 jets and was assigning them to PSA Airlines. The airline began taking deliveries of them in the second quarter of 2014 and expects to finish initial delivery in 2015. In addition, American acquired options to purchase up to 40 additional CRJ900 aircraft scheduled to be delivered in the years 2015 through 2016.[10]

Crew bases

As of June 17, 2015, PSA Airlines uses the following airports as crew member domiciles:

Accidents and incidents

References

  1. ↑ "Our Leadership Team". PSA Airlines. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  2. ↑ "Home." PSA Airlines. Retrieved on 20 May 2009. "3400 Terminal Dr., Vandalia, Ohio 45377 "
  3. 1 2 "US Airways Wholly Owned Subsidiaries" (PDF). US Airways. 1 October 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 "PSA Airlines Company History". psaairlines.com. 2012-08-01. Retrieved 2012-10-06.
  5. ↑ "PSA Airlines putting maintenance facility at CVG". Retrieved 2015-08-06.
  6. ↑ "PSA Airlines To Open New Maintenance Facility At Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport". Retrieved 2016-08-05.
  7. ↑ "PSA Airlines". ch-aviation.ch. Retrieved 2015-07-05.
  8. ↑ PSA Airlines - Our Fleet
  9. ↑ "PSA Airlines' pilots ratify a new contract, airline to receive 30 large regional jets". worldairlinenews.com. 2013-09-28. Retrieved 2013-10-13.
  10. ↑ "New Bombardier CRJ900 NextGen and Embraer E175 Aircraft Will Replace Smaller, Less Efficient Regional Jets". American Airlines Press Release. 2013-12-12. Retrieved 2014-01-26.
  11. ↑ "Accident: PSA Airlines CRJ2 at Charleston on Jan 19th 2010, overran runway on takeoff". The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
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