Airport traffic up again (Pittsburgh, Latrobe: port authority, deal, shuttle)

[PITairport]

Originally Posted by WhoIsStanwix?

I think it's also worthwhile to note that while there is nonstop service to the destinations above, many of them occur so infrequently or are so cost prohibitive that they effectively act like destinations without nonstop service. LA comes to mind first and foremost, with I think 4 flights a week at a very high cost.

To be fair, United took a bit of a risk by adding both SFO and LAX nonstop from PIT the day US Airways dropped both routes. Its up to us to support them if we want that nonstop service, and LAX restored to year round daily service.

Originally Posted by LIRefugee

I've read that UPS and PHL are in some disagreement over the expansion plans that PHL has in mind with a new runway, and it's crossed my mind that PIT would be a more than adequate replacement should UPS want to relocate, but I haven't researched it beyond a thought in my head.

This is from a prior post on the subject:

UPS would have no interest in a large facility at PIT. When UPS built their regional hub in PHL, they had a large central hub in Louisville with a handful of other regional hubs across the US, such as Dallas/Ft. Worth, Columbia, SC, Des Moines. Since then, they have greatly expanded and modernized their Louisville hub, and closed many of these regional hubs. The activity at PHL has been cut in half. All the volume that used to go though these regional hubs now goes to SDF using larger airplanes. Its a bit of a different business model now than 20 years ago.

PHL remains a large operation for UPS because Amazon.com has a huge facility up the road in Allentown. PIT would not be of use to serve that Amazon.com facility, plus its too close to SDF.

PIT is too close to the global hub in Louisville. Simply put, most of UPS's volume from our region gets trucked to Louisville. The only exception is last minute Next Day Air shipments, which get put on the airplane.

I'd love to see that PHL operation relocated to PIT, but its not gonna happen.

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Thanks! That's the chart! I was a little off on my markets.

Top Pittsburgh air travel O&D markets not served by nonstops:

22. San Diego
24. Seattle
26. Jacksonville
27. West Palm Beach (though this is pretty well served by Ft. Lauderdale IMO)
30. New Orleans

Of course... if say... San Diego or Seattle were served by nonstop... they would probably move up the rankings for total O&D.

And since that March 2010 report... we've lost nonstop service to the Top 50 markets of Milwaukee and Myrtle Beach.

Also today, Southwest did announce seasonal service to PBI from PIT
Southwest Airlines Newsroom: Releases

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Many major travel markets for Pittsburghers are absent from that sparse map. Most notable are three Top 25 markets for us... Seattle (and hence the entire Pacific Northwest as well as access to Alaska Airlines network), Jacksonville FL, and New Orleans.

Of those three, SEA makes the most sense because of the few connections that are available on Alaska Airlines. While JAX and MSY offer no connections, from SEA one can make an easy connection to PDX, Calgary (some business ties with PIT), Edmonton, Anchorage (and several other points in AK), the four main Hawaiian Islands, and Asia via code share with Delta.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Top Pittsburgh air travel O&D markets not served by nonstops:

27. West Palm Beach (though this is pretty well served by Ft. Lauderdale IMO)

Yet another Florida snowbird destination is just about the least exciting addition... but it's something. I'd like to see more business destinations connected as opposed to yet another retiree haven.



Southwest Airlines to add flights from Pittsburgh to Palm Beach - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

...

Southwest Airlines will add daily nonstop seasonal service from Pittsburgh International Airport to Florida's Palm Beach International Airport early next year.

...

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said the new route will give local snowbirds direct service to another warm-weather destination.

"Our region's travelers love to fly to southern Florida in the winter," he said in a press release.

...

[gg]

I always find it so funny to read the title of this dumb thread. PIT traffic "up again". Are you kidding me? PIT is so slow it is almost the same as the county airport. Latrobe might have close to the same volume. I mean come on. PIT? Slow as slow can be.

[LIRefugee]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

I always find it so funny to read the title of this dumb thread. PIT traffic "up again". Are you kidding me? PIT is so slow it is almost the same as the county airport. Latrobe might have close to the same volume. I mean come on. PIT? Slow as slow can be.

This sort of hyperbole gets very old very quickly and adds nothing to the conversation.

Passenger Enplanements in 2011:

PIT: 4,095,923
LBE: 31,785

[kjtocool]

Originally Posted by LIRefugee

This sort of hyperbole gets very old very quickly and adds nothing to the conversation.

Passenger Enplanements in 2011:

PIT: 4,095,923
LBE: 31,785

Foot in mouth, someone just got owned on the interwebz. Cue up the inevitable loud noises which will attempt to distract and confuse readers from the ignorance of the original comment!

[LIRefugee]

By the way, assuming I counted correctly, PIT broke 4,000,000 enplaned passengers (which does not include disembarking passengers) in 2011 after being below that level for 2009 and 2010.

2009: 3,956,842
2010: 3,996,656 (1% increase)
2011: 4,095,923 (2.48% increase)

I tabulated that 2011 total myself from the data found on RITA/BTS/TranStats, so I hope the 2011 number can be verified.

[gg]

Originally Posted by kjtocool

Foot in mouth, someone just got owned on the interwebz. Cue up the inevitable loud noises which will attempt to distract and confuse readers from the ignorance of the original comment!

Please provide percentage increases comparing PIT vs. LBE.

Thnaks.

[Velvet Jones]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Please provide percentage increases comparing PIT vs. LBE.

Thnaks.

Statistics like that are meaningless and you know it. Hey, they had 10 passengers last year and 20 this year. They doubled their traffic!

[LIRefugee]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Latrobe might have close to the same volume.

I guess I'll repeat in this ridiculous argument.

Passenger Enplanements in 2011:

PIT: 4,095,923
LBE: 31,785

Anyone who thinks an airport with 32,000 passengers boarded will appear as busy as an airport with 4,100,000 passengers boarded, please trumpet your horn.

Though I do wish LBE could be a more viable second airport akin to DAL or HOU or HPN and such, but I don't think the metro area has the population to support it.

[gg]

Originally Posted by LIRefugee

I guess I'll repeat in this ridiculous argument.

Passenger Enplanements in 2011:

PIT: 4,095,923
LBE: 31,785

Anyone who thinks an airport with 32,000 passengers boarded will appear as busy as an airport with 4,100,000 passengers boarded, please trumpet your horn.

Though I do wish LBE could be a more viable second airport akin to DAL or HOU or HPN and such, but I don't think the metro area has the population to support it.

Keep in mind Spirit is operating out of LBE and that will change their numbers. PIT could handle probably what? 5 times their volume or maybe more? It is a ghost town for its size. Too expensive for anyone to use it.