About 70% of PSA Airline’s employees spend 200 work days a year in the sky, carrying passengers to different destinations. About half of its 3,600 pilots and flight attendants call Charlotte home.
By January, the subsidiary of American Airlines will call Charlotte home, too. PSA is moving its headquarters from Dayton, Ohio, to the Queen City, a logical decision given that almost half of its 750 daily flights occur at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. It’s the world’s sixth-busiest because of American’s big hub.
The headquarters move involves adding about 350 workers to the 50 management and support staff already in Charlotte, putting its total around 2,200 workers living in the region. The PSA expansion is expected is expected to support more than $228 million in economic output in North Carolina and $10 million in state and local tax revenue, according to a study by NC State.
“This is our epicenter,” says PSA CEO Dion Flannery, “and that’s principally the reason for our move. More and more of our flights, and more and more of our activity, is here in Charlotte and we were feeling further removed from our employees.”
WHY PSA IS MOVING?
Flannery spoke from the American Airlines Flight Training Center, which is about a mile from Charlotte Douglas International Airport and two miles from the five-story, 80,000-square-foot building PSA will use as its headquarters in southwest Charlotte. Soon, says Flannery, he’ll be able to have a meeting in his office there, and then be at the airport talking to a crewmember or in the flight training center talking to a pilot within a few minutes.
“It’s as close to a single campus as we can get and that’s what we’re striving for,” he says. Moving from Ohio to Charlotte had been discussed for several years, but the pandemic put the plan on hold. Once airlines began to recover, discussions returned in earnest. Flannery says the airline put in 18 months of work before making the announcement.
The move is a testament to the importance of Charlotte to PSA, says Flannery, adding that those changes occurred gradually over time as the Queen Center became its main crew base. The airline also serves American hubs in Dayton, Dallas, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., and has maintenance facilities at 10 sites, including Charlotte.
“All the hiring and training that had taken place in Dayton, gradually those roles moved to Charlotte,” says Flannery. “As we grew the airline and as we grew in Charlotte, some of those roles and opportunities came here.”
For example, American Airlines’ Flight Training Center has six full-motion simulators, which train PSA workers, says Flannery. All PSA pilots and flight attendants will begin their careers with the airline training in Charlotte and return periodically for new training.
PSA says construction at its building is ahead of schedule and should be ready to occupy in January. PSA had a higher-than-expected relocation acceptance rate, but still expects to fill at least 200 of the 350 jobs locally. PSA is happy with that number because it allows for business continuity, while also giving the company an infusion of new ideas, Flannery says.
PSA received more than 6,000 applications for those new management and support staff positions, showing a tremendous amount of interest in PSA, he adds.
The airline hires about 1,200 workers a year, which comes with being a regional airline, as pilots, flight attendants and mechanics often move to the larger planes at the major airlines where they can make more money, says Flannery.
PSA DIFFERENCE
PSA Airlines flies the American Eagle-branded jets, which are the 75-seat CRJ 900s and the 65-seat CRJ 600s. American Airlines handles reservations and bookings, and the goal is for passengers not to notice a difference. When reservations are made, passengers will see that an American Eagle flight is being handled by either PSA or its two other companies, Envoy Air or Piedmont Airlines, which are based in Irving, Texas, and Salisbury, Maryland, respectively.
Independently owned Republic Airways and Sky West Airlines also fly American Eagle jets under contract with American Airlines.
In 2022, American raised pilot pay at its three wholly-owned affiliates to nearly match compensation earned by its own pilots. The move doubled the cost of regional operations, which had long been a lower-cost option to serve small cities, according to Airline Weekly. Rival commuter airlines have mostly matched American’s move.
Passengers entering a plane from the sky bridge can look down and to the left to observe the marking of the carrier. Frequent business travelers may grow more familiar with PSA workers because of the relatively small size of the company compared with the 130,000 who work for American Airlines.
PSA’s growth depends on American Airlines, which is adding 14 jets to its fleet. He says Charlotte will also be a part of PSA’s story.
“Charlotte is a growing community, a business-minded community, and it’s where a vast majority of our crew members come and go on a daily basis,” he says. “We need to look at Charlotte as our long-term home.” ?