With its low fares and friendly service, Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) was one of the most successful regional airlines in American history. Its distinctive orange, red, and white planes, complete with a beaming smile were immediately recognizable to those living on the West Coast. The airline was also known for employing beautiful and sociable flight attendants. Kenny Friedkin, the founder of PSA, started in 1949 with one leased DC-3 and expanded his fleet to serve millions of passengers each year. Although PSA is no longer in operation, its successful business model of low-priced, efficient service was copied by other airlines and today is considered the norm. In addition, former PSA employees still gather annually to relive the camaraderie they experienced as being a part of one of the most unique airlines of all time.

Complete history of the innovative Californian airline that pioneered deep-discount-fare commercial passenger service, and served as a model for others to follow.

In 1949 Kenny Friedkin, with his flashy Hawaiian shirts, was a post-World War II flight instructor in the small and lazy town of San Diego just north of the Mexican border town of Tijuana. Friedkin founded Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) in the early spring of 1949 with a $1,000 a month leased Douglas DC-3 aircraft. With the one DC-3 aircraft, PSA started weekly roundtrip service from San Diego to Oakland via Burbank and within two years PSA began flying north to San Francisco. By the early eighties Pacific Southwest Airlines had grown to a major commercial airline carrying more than seven million passengers each year. This is the story of the company and their employees that made PSA a one of a kind and unique airlines. PSA........