Pittsburgh Int'l Airport slipping slipping slipping.. (Philadelphia, Dallas: lease, home, tenant)

[Copanut]

OK, I'll bite. What does Dubois have to do with Pgh?

As to building the airport in Cranberry, get real, do you really think they would abandon the existing runways, build new ones along with a terminal in Butler county?

I guess I'm missing your point.

[Bizowner00]

So with no real increase in terminal usage in sight at least in terms of the airline industry, what should be done with all the unused airside terminal space? Continue to keep it closed off but at the same time pay for continued maintance and up keep ?

[ditchdigger]

Originally Posted by Hopes

...And South Ranges didn't put all of the blame on the newer airline management, but split the blame with local politicans.

IMO, our politicans were crazy to not do whatever they could to keep the USair hub in Pittsburgh.

It doesn't matter if USair was raping us. We're going to have a harder time attracting new businesses now.

I was discussing this thread with Mrs. Ditchdigger, and she reminded me that at one time time, Continental was considering locating a hub here, and USAir held so much power that the proposal never got off the ground. (Pun intended.) Those guys may not have known anything about running an airline, but they sure knew how to make the politicians do what they wanted.

[South Range Family]

Originally Posted by Bizowner00

So with no real increase in terminal usage in sight at least in terms of the airline industry, what should be done with all the unused airside terminal space? Continue to keep it closed off but at the same time pay for continued maintance and up keep ?

Until the Federal Government allows non-passengers access to the airside, there is nothing that can be done.

I remember walking through the terminal during my breaks. It was a thriving city all by itself. People paid to park, went through security, and spent money in the shops. They weren't even picking anybody up from a flight. It was just fun to go visit the airport. It was like going to a mall where you could see airplanes, and weirdos from all over the world. I loved to people watch.

I once heard that the Jockey underwear store at the airport made more money than the other three Jockey stores combined. Security changes after September 11th killed all of those airside shops, and restaurants.


Ditchdigger, Cleveland has always been a Continental hub. Feigning interest in Pittsburgh is always a good way to get Cleveland's attention at the negotiating table.

[ditchdigger]

Cleveland has always been a Continental hub.

Pittsburgh was always a USAir hub. We've seen what that "always" is worth, haven't we?

[BrianTH]

Here is an interesting, in-depth review of the recent history of the Pittsburgh airport:

Pittsburgh Airport: From hub airport to point-to-point in three decades | Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation

I actually think the bottomline could be worse. It sucks we overbuilt the airport and now have related debt, and we probably lost more direct service than necessary as a result of USAir crowding out competition before leaving. Still, the local business community is fighting hard to maintain vital direct flights, and as of 2008, before the recession, origin and destination traffic was increasing.

So without trying to ignore all the bad stuff, I think if we can at least maintain the sort of service the local economy needs, we will be OK.

[Bizowner00]

It's imperative that Pittsburgh not only holds onto the direct flights that it has now, but that some additional routes be added. If not, then regional cities such as Cleveland, Columbus, Cinci, Detroit, Baltimore, etc will continue to score better than Pittsburgh for business climate in the area of ' connecting to the rest of the world '

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Bizowner00

It's imperative that Pittsburgh not only holds onto the direct flights that it has now, but that some additional routes be added. If not, then regional cities such as Cleveland, Columbus, Cinci, Detroit, Baltimore, etc will continue to score better than Pittsburgh for business climate in the area of ' connecting to the rest of the world '

I'm not sure how much we should care about such a "score", as opposed to actually serving the needs of existing and prospective businesses.

But otherwise, it does seem like we should be trying to add more direct routes, and apparently the local business community is working on that. I do know that the airport's debt remains a barrier to lowering landing fees, and conversely that casino money has helped offset that effect and allowed some recent deals on landing fees to entice more direct flights.

[Bizowner00]

If the market demands it, more flights and routes will happen for Pittsburgh. A person I have known that works for South West in marketing said Pittsburgh has leveled off for them as growth goes over the past year. ( just about 1% growth ) Thus no additional flights are expected.
Air Tran on the heals of the popular Florida winter routes has been growing at Pit taking over USAIR's Pittsburgh-Florida non stop routes. With warmer months coming up it will be interesting to see if the Florida non stops are reduced.
This is really market driven and it seems that market level has been reached for the time being in the Pittsburgh market. Lower landing fees are nice but you have to fill the seats. I can recall a Denver based airline industry consultant on the heals of USAIR's first Pittsburgh reduction predicting Pit would level off with around 7 million passengers per year. Placing Pittsburgh in the small passenger load level airport category. Watch the Pit-Paris Delta flight schedule down the road. It was reduced back in the late fall.

[Bizowner00]

While Pittsburgh's airport continues to shrink in most categories, one thing that ranks up there with the best.... Snow removal. The airport get's high marks for it's snow removal efforts. Unlike the city in which the airport serves!