Smiles are extremely contagious.
Just looking at someone smiling can cause your body to smile back even when you don't know the other person.
Now imagine an entire airline based off of its sense of humor.
Smiles on its planes, its staff members who joked with passengers,
and even the pleasant look on your face after discovering their cheap fares to California.
We're talking about none other than Pacific Southwest Airlines:
America's first low-cost carrier and largest intrastate airline.
Pacific Southwest Airlines, better known as PSA,
was regarded as California's unofficial flag carrier from their large presence within the state.
They first began in 1949 with the aviation experience of Kenny Friedkin.
Friedkin had learned a few lessons from his failed previous attempt
- Friedkin Airlines - and was ready to try again.
He got some advice from a travel agent and set up his new airline's operations
at San Diego's Lindbergh Field with a leased Douglas DC-3.
He then rented out a marine corps latrine to serve as the company's reservation base
and processed passengers through the neighboring flying school.
Friedkin believed that if prices were cheap enough, people would fly instead of drive or take the train.
PSA flew a once weekly round trip service from San Diego to Oakland via Burbank.
For its passengers, it cost just
$15.60 in between San Diego and Oakland, which is equivalent to around $170 today.
That might sound really expensive for a low-cost airline, but in 1949,
that was a relatively cheap price compared to other airlines.
On the flight, passengers were served hot coffee, peanuts, and fresh donuts from local bakeries.
Pretty basic for the time period but better than today's service on budget airlines!
The whole operation proved to be successful and
PSA brought on more DC-3s and increased their services to San Francisco.
Other large airlines started to notice and decreased their prices to match PSA.
At the time,
intrastate air travel was not controlled by the federal government,
and airlines operating intrastate routes were generally allowed to charge whatever they felt was right.
Intrastate travel within California wasn't necessarily Laissez-faire, but
airlines were allowed to compete with each other in a capitalist way as long as they followed regulations.
The move to lower prices by the competition actually somewhat backfired.
People who had thought PSA wasn't maintaining their planes properly from their low prices
were now convinced that PSA was a credible airline since
large reputable airlines were now charging the same price.
But with competition growing, PSA began expanding.
They added the Douglas DC-4 to the fleet in 1955 to replace the dc-3s,
and painted squares around the windows to make passengers think they were flying the newer Douglas DC-6.
The DC-4s brought in business travelers and their loyal passenger base.
But it wasn't just the new planes that brought people in,
flight attendants actually had a huge role in recruiting loyal frequent flyers.
Their sense of humor, dignity, and exceptional service kept bringing passengers back.
One flight attendant, Sandy Daniels, even helped found the Precious Stewardess Association
This was a fun program where frequent flyers would bring the crew gifts or give assistance
and in return, they would receive a free drink or certificate for being friendly.
In 1959, PSA ordered the Lockheed Electra to replace the DC-4.
Passengers loved the new Electras with their redesigned interiors and fast frequent services.
The Electra, in fact, would take PSA well into the 1960s.
And, as PSA ordered more of the type, passenger numbers grew exponentially.
Unfortunately,
Kenny Friedkin, who was still the owner of PSA, wouldn't get to see his airline grow for very long.
Friedkin unexpectedly died of a stroke in 1962,
and the leadership of the company was passed to Floyd Andrews:
a long time friend and business associate of Friedkin.
With the company now in his hands, Andrews decided to try and take PSA
and grow it to become the biggest and most recognizable carrier in California.
He first made the company public by selling stock shares,
He then moved the reservation office out of the latrine at San Diego and upgraded the base's technology.
Andrews also boosted PSA's image by ordering the company's first jetliner: the Boeing 727-100.
The first jet arrived in 1965 and
travel time between San Diego and San Francisco dropped to just 51 minutes!
PSA was one of few intrastate airlines to be able to obtain a 727
with a strong passenger base and no (little) interference from the government.
A flow of new passenger jets would join the 727s
and eventually phase out the Lockheed Electras.
New additions to the fleet in the coming years included the Boeing 727-200,
the Boeing 737-200, and the McDonnell-Douglas DC-9.
Around the same time of PSA's fleet modernization,
PSA was making some iconic changes to their brand.
A new livery was introduced: representing the colors of a sunset sky (or at least it looks that way).
Flight attendants introduced a snappy new uniform and the so-called "Californian Beauties"
served the passengers and skinny, banana-shaped dresses.
But perhaps the most memorable introduction to the PSA brand was the addition of a smile painted on its aircraft.
There's a few different stories on the origin of the smile.
A widely accepted theory is that the smile was painted on an aircraft for a marketing campaign,
as PSA was pushing its new slogan of The World's Friendliest Airline".
After the photo shoot was finished,
employees at the airline decided not only to keep the smile on the aircraft it was painted on,
but add them to the rest of its fleet!
More advertising was published with the phrase "Catch Our Smile"
showing the smile painted on the airline's new "Grinningbird" livery.
When the 1970s rolled around,
PSA had attracted the attention of a certain man who would later found southwest airlines:
Herb Kelleher.
PSA opened the entire operation to Kelleher and he was so impressed,
that he took PSA's manual and stuck Southwest's name on it!
PSA also found another exciting aircraft type to introduce on routes between San Francisco Los Angeles and San Diego.
In 1974,
PSA brought on the Lockheed L-1011 Tristar nicknamed "Mother Grinningbird".
PSA however,
would only fly two of these planes for just two years
canceling their remaining orders and creating tensions with Lockheed.
The airline looked at other wide-body jets to bring on as a replacement ,
but rising fuel costs prevented the airline from doing so.
But regardless of the l-1011's short time at the airline,
PSA would be the only intrastate airline to ever operate a wide-body jet.
The issues with the L-1011s and a few failed hotel and radio station acquisition frenzies led by Andrews
caused him to be forced out of his position as CEO.
Another major drawback for the airline occurred on September 25th, 1978
with the crash of PSA flight 182.
The 727 on approach to San Diego collided with a departing Cessna 172
critically damaging the aircraft's right wing and killing everyone on board both aircraft and a few on the ground.
But the rest of the 1970s weren't all bad for PSA.
The Airline Deregulation Act had passed congress in 1978
giving PSA the freedom to start expanding into other states and even internationally.
Deregulation also brought in fierce competition from many startup airlines.
To remain profitable, PSA made changes to its schedule to keep aircraft as busy as possible.
This also introduced point-to-point service as a major part of their business model.
PSA inaugurated their new schedule with service to popular vacation destinations in
Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and Mexico.
The first flights left from Las Vegas and Reno in December
departing from San Diego and Oakland respectively.
Going into the 1980s, the airlines started off the new decade with some more obstacles.
The airline had to suffer through two strikes from pilots and air traffic controllers.
Other airlines like AirCal and United also increased the competition
offering their own low fares to PSA's main hub in Los Angeles.
The out-of-state expansion also came with a few changes in service.
The airline introduced meals on longer flights, seat assignments, and a frequent flyer program to compete with AirCal.
To further boost the airline's image to gain a competitive advantage,
PSA became the official airline of Disneyland in California.
Shortly afterwards in 1984, PSA took on the
BAe-146 into its fleet which they nicknamed the "Smiliner".
With the new 146s,
they introduced service to many domestic cities within California
and increased frequencies between their busiest routes.
All was going well for the airline until aggressive fare wars hit the industry in 1985.
Smaller competitor airlines lost money and went out of business being replaced by larger airlines.
But in 1986, everything changed for PSA.
Airlines started merging left and right.
Their biggest competitor, AirCal, had just been bought by American Airlines.
This might sound good at first,
but that actually meant that PSA would now be directly competing with a large legacy carrier
something they would in no way be able to handle (on their own).
An hour after the merger of American and AirCal was announced,
USAir, another large airline, called PSA.
USAir had been calling PSA since 1978 about a merger and
PSA had always refused, but with the tables turning in the aviation market,
PSA finally accepted.
In 1987,
PSA became a division of USAir and a slow takeover begun.
Some seasonal services were introduced, but fleet expansion was overall stopped and
USAir began repainting aircraft
causing them to lose their iconic smiles.
But a new less-happy coat of paint wasn't the only thing that happened to PSA's dwindling fleet.
On December 7th, 1987,
an angered ex-USAir employee brought a gun on board a BAe 146 heading for San Francisco.
He shot the crew and put the plane in a dive from 23,000 feet killing everyone on board.
This was a blow to an already disintegrating brand and PSA continued to shrink until
April 8th, 1988 when the last ever PSA flight operated from San Diego to Las Vegas.
This marked the end of an era as PSA from this point on no longer existed as an airline.
PSA's base at San, Diego was cleaned out and anything that displayed PSA's logo was thrown away.
USAir's executive team replaced PSA's managers
and set the tone for the region by increasing fares and
discontinuing hub service at all of PSA's former base airports.
The irony in this situation is that PSA merged with USAir
to avoid competition and a likely takeover from American.
Eventually, USAir merged into America West,
who then created US Airways,
who then merged into American.
So in the end, PSA was sort of indirectly eaten by American.
Looking back at PSA's life as an intrastate airline,
it's amazing that they accomplished what they did.
They faced competition from other airlines all on their own and
were able to prove themselves successful after only a few years of operation.
PSA also in a way predicted that price would determine people's will to fly in the future.
Throughout its entire life, PSA focused on keeping its fares low to compete with other airlines and bring in customers.
But of course, low fares weren't the only factor that brought in customers.
The airline's innovative branding and the exceptional service by the crew is what made PSA unique.
Their smiles and their emphasis on public image put them on the map
and is part of the reason why passengers flew with them instead of larger airlines.
PSA's legacy lives on in the roots of Southwest Airlines's customer service.
PSA is the airline that taught Southwest that being cheap, quirky, and fun will bring in passengers.
Their trademark, which is still owned by American,
also lives on in the form of American's regional airline branch named PSA Airlines.
Since American still owns and uses the PSA name and trademark,
it would be almost impossible to bring the airline back without facing legal repercussions.
So for now, the PSA brand will live on in the memories of those who flew them.
Their downfall wasn't one of bankruptcy and failure,
but of survival through a seemingly necessary business decision.
If PSA hadn't merged with USAir,
it's likely they would have been taken over by American and faced a similar fate.
But their decision to merge with the USAir made the competition stronger in a time
where airlines were merging to gain market share and remain profitable.
USAir was able to use the planes and experience that PSA left them
to become stronger and continue serving the aviation market.
PSA showed the world what it means to be a strong competitor in the low-cost airline market
through their smiles and their wonderful sense of humor.
Their smiliner paint scheme can still be found on a specially painted
A319 in American's fleet and maybe the next time we see that plane in its PSA livery,
we'll remember the cheap quirky Californian airline that set the standard for air travel for decades to come.
Thanks for watching everyone! This has been one of my favorite airlines to explore.
Although PSA wasn't really a huge airline and aren't as comparable to budget airlines of today,
they still had a major impact on the industry and that's what makes them worth talking about.
If you like this video leave a like and subscribe to Andrew's Aviation!
And as always, stay safe and have a wonderful day everyone!