PSA

PSA Pilots
A PSA CRJ900 during sunset at Charlotte Douglas International Airport’s Gate E. Photo: Capt. Brian Coxson (PSA)

At A Glance

Pilots joined ALPA: 1988

Number of pilots/flightcrew members: 1,701

Pilot bases: Charlotte, N.C.; Dayton, Ohio; Arlington, Va./Washington, D.C.; Dallas/Fort Worth, Tex.; and Philadelphia, Pa.

Headquarters: Dayton, Ohio

Operations: PSA is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines Group, operating more than 600 daily flights to nearly 100 destinations.

Fleet: 48 CRJ700s and 69 CRJ900s

For the last several years, PSA Airlines pilot leaders have been concerned about pilot attrition at the carrier. To help address this issue, in June 2022 the pilots’ Master Executive Council (MEC) ratified a contract extension together with seven additional letters of agreement, providing significant improvements to the pay and quality of life for PSA pilots. Under the new agreement, the contract was extended until April 1, 2028.

In addition, in March 2023 the company opened a new domicile in Dallas/Fort Worth, Tex., to attract more pilots. And after years of planning and testing, the MEC and the company are negotiating over the implementation of a preferential bidding system (PBS) that’s expected to be ready later this year. Both the pilots and the company anticipate that the new scheduling tool will ultimately improve the pilot group’s quality of life. PSA will be the first wholly owned American Eagle company to migrate scheduling operations to trip construction and pairing-generation software.

Upon the successful implementation of the PBS, improvements will include

  • Vacation credit of 24 hours per week,
  • 12 guaranteed days off for all pilots,
  • Long call 1 (24-hour callout) and long call 2 (12-hour callout) for reserve pilots,
  • Assign and notify functions,
  • Increased vacation credit,
  • At least two periods of three days off for line holders/reserve pilots awarded two blocks of four days off, and
  • Increased flow to American Airlines.

This July, the pilots and management will take part in a limited contract reopener, which allows each side to present five cost-neutral items for negotiations.

A PSA CRJ900 prepares to land. Photo: Wikimedia