PSA Airlines, a regional carrier owned by American Airlines, is opening a crew base at DFW International Airport on March 2, a move meant to attract more pilots amid an industrywide shortage of navigators.
The Dallas hub will open with the hiring of 25 to 30 captains and 25 to 30 first officers, he said. Ultimately, the goal is to fly as many departures as possible out of the new hub.
“It’s gonna start small,” Dion Flannery, president of PSA Airlines said. “We’re going to have about five airplanes flying daily, so 20 daily departures out of the Dallas hub.”
The American Airlines subsidiary, which flies under the American Eagle flag, started talking about the move late last year as the shortage of pilots forced American and other airlines to cut service to cities served by regional carriers.
“We’ve been ready to get into this for a while and it’s our reality now,” Flannery said.
Dayton, Ohio-based PSA flies primarily out of American’s hub in Charlotte to destinations in the eastern United States, and has a fleet of 149 Bombardier jets that carry 65 or 76 passengers. The regional carrier has 4,200 employees, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, and 1,550 pilots, according to regulatory filings from American.
“We intend to grow that and we’re striving to put ourselves in a position to be able to do just that, which is to continue to add more lines of flying with destinations into Dallas as 2023 goes on,” Flannery said.
Dallas has grown into an attractive destination for airlines to recruit pilots. Discount carrier Frontier Airlines announced a crew base at DFW Airport last year, and Spirit has a base here as well for pilots and flight attendants, hoping to capitalize on the abundance of regional pilots based here for American’s subsidiaries.
The opening of the Dallas hub comes as PSA announced an extension of its sign-on bonus program this month through March 31 and its pilot premium pay through 2026. Direct entry captains with over 950 flight hours will receive a $100,000 sign-on bonus and pay starting at $146 per hour. Experienced first officers with over 500 flight hours will receive a $75,000 sign-on bonus and pay starting at $90 per hour.
With recent pay bumps, most new pilots at American’s regional carriers make about $90,000 a year.
In June, American Airlines announced raises for regional airline employees at Envoy, Piedmont and PSA Airlines. The deals differed depending on the flight attendants’ airline and seniority, but starting flight attendants now make at least $27 an hour when flying. The airline also gave $3,000 retention bonuses to more senior flight attendants and “reliability incentives bonuses” of up to $4,500 for flight attendants who were active during the summer months.
Flannery said the pilot shortage has created frustration for the company as it tries to cater to high demand from customers. This led to last year’s “aggressive steps” with pilot compensation, he said.
“We find ourselves in the regional industry as a whole and PSA as part of the industry in this scenario where over the last year we’ve lost more captains than we can replace with our own first officer upgrade,” Flannery said. “That is what’s resulting in the loss of supportability in terms of flying.”
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