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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.
About the author
Author Alan Renga received a master's of arts in history from San Diego State University and is the associate archivist at the San Diego Air and Space Museum. Mark Mentges holds a master's of library science from the University of California at Berkeley, where he headed the Reference Department at the Education-Psychology Library and was a research specialist at the Business Library. He currently volunteers at the San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives. In this unique volume, together they document the history of the airline using the museum's extensive PSA photograph collection.
