Ohio’s PSA Airlines resumes ops after brief grounding

PSA Airlines (OH, Dayton James M. Cox) resumed operations on January 29, 2021, following a sudden grounding of “most” of its 130 CRJ regional jets the day before to allow for urgent nose landing-gear inspections. “All aircraft inspections are complete and all aircraft are in place for today’s operation. We expect minimal disruption to passengers today with a small number of planned cancellations and delays,” the airline said in a statement to ch-aviation. The day before, PSA said in an enigmatic tweet that most of its aircraft “have temporarily been removed from service to complete a standard inspection”, without disclosing the specific reasons. However, in an internal memo obtained by CNN, the airline admitted that the grounding was for “an unknown period” and was likely to have a “significant impact” on its operations. The FAA clarified that the temporary grounding was a result of PSA Airlines’ voluntary disclosure. The airline is a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) and operates exclusively for its parent under the American Eagle brand in the eastern and central US. Its fleet comprises sixty-one CRJ700s and sixty-nine CRJ900s. Nearly all of the aircraft are owned by American Airlines, except for seven CRJ700 Srs 701ERs dry-leased from GECAS, AeroCentury (three each), and Dougherty & Company (one), the ch-aviation fleets ownership module says.