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

As of July 2012, PSA Airlines employed 992 people. The airline operates 327 daily flights in 65 cities as US Airways Express for US Airways.

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.

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.

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/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.

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. The agreements are contingent on the merger of US Airways Group and AMR Corporation (American Airlines) by December 31, 2015.

Fleet

As of December 2013, the PSA Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:

As of December 2013, PSA Airlines average fleet age was 9.6 years old

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. In December 2013, American Airlines announced that it had ordered 30 Bombardier CRJ900 jets and was assigning them to PSA Airlines. The airline expects to begin taking delivery of them in the second quarter of 2014 and finish initial deliver 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.

Accidents and incidents

• PSA Airlines Flight 495 (US2495/JIA495), a Bombardier CRJ-200 (registered N246PS) overran the runway at Yeager Airport, Charleston, West Virginia on 19 January 2010. This was caused by a rejected take-off. The aircraft was stopped by the EMAS at the end of the runway, sustaining substantial damage to its undercarriage. No one was injured as a result of the incident.

Pay Caps

On the heels of one of the highest revenue years (2012) for parent company US Airways PSA's pilot union, ALPA, relented to concessionary pressures from PSA management in their newest contract. PSA management maintained that the pilot group should take some financial concessions in order to procure an allocation of 30 new CRJ 900's from American Airlines Key amongst the concessions is limiting pay scale ascension for new-hire first officers (co-pilots) to a 4 year pay rate, and captains to a 12 year pay rate. A statement from PSA's ALPA pilot union read,

"When PSA pilots voted on our new contract in March, and on subsequent agreements, we had to make some difficult decisions. As a result, we preserved core provisions in our contract and improved pilots' job security here at PSA and career progression to our mainline partner. Today's announcement of a new aircraft order, coupled with our first scheduled seniority-based interviews at US Airways, prove that our tough decisions have borne fruit."

Terry Maxon, of The Dallas News, points out that American Eagle pilots recently voted down a similar deal. The American Eagle pilots compared the deal to creating a "B-Scale". The use and subsequent decline of B-Scales is an antiquated practice which saw no long term benefits for airlines that used them in the 1980s and 1990s."

External links

• PSA Airlines.com

References

1. "Home." PSA Airlines. Retrieved on 20 May 2009. "3400 Terminal Dr., Vandalia, Ohio 45377 "
2. "US AIRWAYS WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARIES" (PDF). usairways.com. 2012-07-01. Retrieved 2012-10-06.
3. ^ "PSA Airlines Company History". psaairlines.com. 2012-08-01. Retrieved 2012-10-06.
4. ^ "PSA Airlines' pilots ratify a new contract, airline to receive 30 large regional jets". worldairlinenews.com. 2013-09-28. Retrieved 2013-10-13.
5. "PSA Airlines". ch-aviation.ch. Retrieved 2013-12-29.
6. "PSA Airlines Fleet Age". Retrieved 2013-12-29.
7. "PSA Airlines". aviationblog.dallasnews.com. 2013-12-12. Retrieved 2013-12-29.
8. "Accident: PSA Airlines CRJ2 at Charleston on Jan 19th 2010, overran runway on takeoff". The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
9. Mutzabaugh, Ben (8:20 p.m. EST January 23, 2013). "US Airways Profits Soar Amid Strong Demand". USA Today. Retrieved 22 January 2014. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
10. Polek, Gregory (November 2, 2013, 12:10 AM). "PSA Pilots Win Rights To Fly CRJ900s". AIN Online. Retrieved 22 January 2014. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
11. Maxon, Terry (6:22 pm on December 12, 2013). "Pilot groups have differing reactions to American Airlines regional jet order". Dallas News: Business. Retrieved 22 January 2014. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
12. Maxon, Terry (2013-09-27). "PSA pilots OK contract that brings more jets in exchange for concessions". Dallas News. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
13. Gottshalk, Barbara. "PSA Pilots Welcome American Airlines' Announcement of New Aircraft Order". Airline Pilot Association. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
14. Maxon, Terry (Sept. 22, 2013). "American Eagle pilot union: Contract approval by PSA pilots brings 'profound disappointment'". Dallas News: Business. Retrieved 22 January 2014. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
15. Bamber, Gittell, Kochan & Nordenflycht (2009). Up in the Air: How Airlines Can Improve Performance by Engaging Their Emplyees. Cornell University Press. ISBN 080144747X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

• Airlines of the United States
• Regional airlines of the United States
• US Airways
• Regional Airline Association members
• Companies based in Dayton, Ohio
• Airlines established in 1980