Last Barrier to PSA-USAir Merger Is Cleared

Airline pilots at Pacific Southwest Airlines and USAir on Thursday modified a union contract that represented the last barrier in the long-awaited merger of San Diego-based PSA and USAir Group.

The agreement clears the way for USAir to repaint PSA’s airplanes and integrate the two airlines’ flight schedules. The contract dispute was “the only remaining barrier toward the eventual merger of the two airlines,” according to USAir spokeswoman Nancy Vaughan.

However, “there is still no date set for the actual merger,” Vaughan said Friday. USAir’s December, 1986, agreement to pay $400 million for PSA prohibited the airlines from combining their fleets until after Jan. 1, 1988.

That deadline doesn’t mean that PSA passengers won’t be seeing signs of change.

“I’m not saying we’ve got the paintbrushes out to repaint the PSA fleet, but there are things you can do before the actual merger,” Vaughan said.

In September, the airlines were forced to delay merger preparations when negotiations between the Air Line Pilots Assn. and USAir bogged down. On Thursday, ALPA and USAir came to terms on an “umbrella contract” that will cover USAir and PSA pilots after the merger.

Within three years, the amended contract will place USAir and PSA pilots on identical wage scales. The contract modification was necessary because ALPA contracts with USAir and PSA contained different wage scales.

PSA on Friday told its employees that the contract settlement was a “significant step toward the eventual merger of PSA into USAir.”