PSA Inc.
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| Founded | 1949 | ||||||
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| Commenced operations | 1949 | ||||||
| Ceased operations | 1988 (integrated into USAir) | ||||||
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| Fleet size | 75 | ||||||
| Destinations | 31 | ||||||
| Company slogan | Catch our Smile | ||||||
| Parent company |
PSA Inc. (1949–1986) USAir (1987–1988) |
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| Headquarters | San Diego, California | ||||||
| Key people |
Kenny Friedkin (Founder and Original President) Jean Friedkin (Founder and Original Vice President) Eleanor Glithero (PSA's first employee) |
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Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) was a United States airline headquartered in San Diego, California, that operated from 1949 to 1988. It was the first large discount airline in the United States. PSA called itself "The World's Friendliest Airline" and painted a smile on the nose of its airplanes, the PSA Grinningbirds. Opinion L.A. of the Los Angeles Times called PSA "practically the unofficial flag carrier airline of California for almost 40 years."
The airline initially operated as an intrastate airline wholly within the state of California before expanding to other destinations in other western states in the U.S. following the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 and also eventually operated international service to several destinations in Mexico.
In 1986, PSA became the first of two airlines that were bought, or merged, into the existing USAir, followed by Piedmont Airlines in 1987 The PSA acquisition was completed in 1988. USAir changed its name to US Airways in 1997. In 2005, after its second bankruptcy filing, America West Airlines acquired US Airways, continuing with the name until it merged with American Airlines in 2013.
In November 1995, the PSA name was given to Jetstream International Airlines, becoming PSA Airlines, so that US Airways could preserve the PSA name and trademarks. US Airways had acquired Jetstream International in 1987, when it was a subsidiary of Piedmont Airlines.
Kenny Friedkin founded the airline in 1949 with a $1,000-a-month leased Douglas DC-3. Friedkin obtained information from a travel agent upon starting the airline due to lessons learned from a failed precursor airline (Friedkin Airlines). The DC-3 inaugurated a weekly round trip from San Diego to Oakland via Burbank. Reservations were initially taken from a World War II surplus latrine refitted as a ticket office. In 1951, PSA flights moved from Oakland to San Francisco International Airport. By 1953, the airline had returned to Oakland (OAK) and was continuing to serve San Francisco (SFO), Burbank (BUR) and San Diego (SAN) as well. In 1955 PSA bought two Douglas DC-4s from Capital Airlines and painted boxes around the windows to make the planes resemble the Douglas DC-6.
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