Dayton-based airline opens ‘flagship’ hangar

PSA Airlines officials opened its flagship hangar at Dayton International Airport on Monday, cutting the ribbon on a $13 million, 77,000-square-foot hangar built to support a growing fleet of Bombardier CRJ aircraft.

A wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines, PSA Airlines is the only airline based in Ohio — and this is its largest hangar, said Dion Flannery, PSA president.

“It’s a testament to our growth,” Flannery said. “It’s important infrastructure for us that’s going to last the rest of our days here.”

A growing fleet needs a growing workforce, and the regional airline is hiring aggressively. It already has nearly 3,000 employees, about double its workforce it had two years ago, and in April Flannery told the Dayton Daily News the company expects to hire about 1,000 additional pilots in the next 18 months.

PSA’s has 898 employees in Dayton, its headquarters. Its fleet has grown from 49 airplanes to 115 and continues to grow at about three airplanes a month. It will grow to 150 Bombardier CRJ aircraft by the end of 2017.

Flannery said the company examined sites in three states before deciding to build in Dayton.

“We may not be the largest county in Ohio, but we can boast about having the only airline headquartered in Ohio,” said Montgomery County Commissioner Judy Dodge, one of a string of elected officials who spoke at a ceremony at the hangar.

Terry Slaybaugh, city of Dayton aviation director, said this is the city’s “third or fourth” project for PSA in the past three years.

“This is obviously a big one,” Slaybaugh said.

The hangar is big enough to house six CRJ 900 aircraft, the 76- to 90-seat version of the CRJ 700,

The airline flies nearly 700 daily flights to nearly 90 destinations, with crew bases in Dayton, Charlotte, N.C., Cincinnati and Knoxville, Tenn.

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