Pittsburgh International Ghostport ? (Philadelphia, Johnstown, Akron: transplants, leases, mover)

[RockLobster]

It hit me in the face how massive Pittsburgh's air service has fallen when I flew in last night and counted only 4 aircraft at the terminal and perhaps 200 people in the terminal at 8:00 in the evening. I asked a skycap about the recent cutback last week of 68 USAIRWAYS flights and he said now only 25 of 75 gates are used by all the airlines combined. Even with some growth from Southwest, Delta, United etc, our easy to use air facility seems like a ghostport. I feel for the retail and resturant folks out there.
I guess a few questions I would love to find some answers to might include:
Has PIT truly become as unprofitable as a hub as USAIRWAYS claims?
What role did Governor Rendell have in Pittsburgh's demise and Philadelphia International's explosion as a USAIRWAYS hub?
Does PIT have enough traffic and market size to establish non stop service to Europe ?
The airline industry is in constant change, what chance does PIT have to become a hub once again?
If the long term outlook is for less then 50% of the terminal to be used for commercial activity what will become of the rest of the airport complex ?
Oh well, hope he hold onto what remains in air service..

[guylocke]

I doubt PIT will become a hub for an airline in the near future. As far as I know, though, Pittsburgh International traffic is actually up. Almost every single carrier at PIT is making profit, and more profit than the previous year.

USAir is sort of an exception. I refuse to fly with USAir. Maybe from people like me? lol.

[Jay_F]

RockLobster,

My wife flew into PIT this weekend for a Monday job interview, and mentioned how unbelievably dead it was, and had never experienced not seeing other aircraft parked around a terminal anywhere else, ever.

What really is a shame, and unforeseen by the developers is that now only ticketed passengers are allowed into the shopping areas because of post 911 security. less flights + no one other than ticketed passengers in the shopping areas = How the heck do they stay in business?

[guylocke]

less flights + no one other than ticketed passengers in the shopping areas = How the heck do they stay in business?

Yeah, really. I have no idea how they stay in business.

[nynjmapa]

Originally Posted by guylocke

I doubt PIT will become a hub for an airline in the near future. As far as I know, though, Pittsburgh International traffic is actually up. Almost every single carrier at PIT is making profit, and more profit than the previous year.

USAir is sort of an exception. I refuse to fly with USAir. Maybe from people like me? lol.

I can second the refusal to fly US Air, and I also nominate O'Hare airport as well. Not many people I talk to have kind words for US Air.

JetBlue is pretty sweet if you want a cheap direct comfy flight to NYC or Boston.

[RockLobster]

Yeh it's a rather bizzare situation. One of the best facilities in the nation and yet we are faced that it is many times larger than what will be the traffic need in and out of Pittsburgh. It's pretty bizzare seeing the few people inside the terminal.

[Geeo]

USAirways saw that Philadelphia was a bigger market, they were in bankrupcy, and they could make cash faster by trying to squeeze more flights into it to make it a hub. The "hub" in Philly is laughable, as that airport is one of the oldest and most antiquated in the country, and the problems USAirways is having there now proves it. Too few runways, late connections, lost luggage, no automated luggage system, no commuter terminal, no people mover, no moving sidewalks, and a really dingy terminal.

USAirways welched on their contracts at Pittsburgh, canceled their gate leases 30 minutes before exiting bankrupcy, and basically were very dishonest about their plans for Pittsburgh. They just walked away, and it was all perfectly legal because they were bankrupt.

Yes, the airport here is huge, and I'm sure it will slowly get busier in the years ahead. There are many more airlines offering point-to-point service now, and Pittsburghers can still get to most major cities non-stop. The hub basically funneled passengers from small cities through here. Originating and destination traffic is up by over 3 million a year in Pittsburgh because fares are lower with more competition.

Most airlines are in a panic these days and cutting domestic capacity, so it's a pretty volatile industry. But USAirways certainly merits a prominent spot in the Hall of Shame for the way they do business.

[bboy36win]

I believe PIT will have trouble becoming a true hub again due to a relatively small amount of Os & Ds (i.e. travelers using PIT as their origin or destination). Given the current, flat population trend of the region, this is unlikely to change dramatically in the near future.

So, the best hope for PIT would be for an airline (such as Southwest) to embrace it as a transfer point for traffic in and out of other markets.

[CHIP72]

Originally Posted by RockLobster

It hit me in the face how massive Pittsburgh's air service has fallen when I flew in last night and counted only 4 aircraft at the terminal and perhaps 200 people in the terminal at 8:00 in the evening. I asked a skycap about the recent cutback last week of 68 USAIRWAYS flights and he said now only 25 of 75 gates are used by all the airlines combined. Even with some growth from Southwest, Delta, United etc, our easy to use air facility seems like a ghostport. I feel for the retail and resturant folks out there.
I guess a few questions I would love to find some answers to might include:

1) Has PIT truly become as unprofitable as a hub as USAIRWAYS claims?

2) What role did Governor Rendell have in Pittsburgh's demise and Philadelphia International's explosion as a USAIRWAYS hub?

3) Does PIT have enough traffic and market size to establish non stop service to Europe?

4) The airline industry is in constant change, what chance does PIT have to become a hub once again?

5) If the long term outlook is for less then 50% of the terminal to be used for commercial activity what will become of the rest of the airport complex?

Oh well, hope he hold onto what remains in air service..

1) IMO, possibly to probably, though I think USAirways is exaggerating things a bit (also see answers to #3 and #4).

2) Probably little to none; USAirways was already beginning to deemphasize Pittsburgh relative to Philadelphia around the time of the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks. Philadelphia is a much, much larger market (and has a much larger secondary market to draw from) than Pittsburgh; this is the primary reason why Philadelphia was emphasized and Pittsburgh was deemphasized.

3) Not really. Think about it this way - does Cleveland have non-stop service to Europe? Cleveland is a similar-sized market to Pittsburgh, and also has a significantly larger secondary market to draw from for passengers. (Cleveland can draw from Akron, Canton-Massilion, and Youngstown, plus some smaller or further-away markets, while Pittsburgh can only draw from Youngstown and Johnstown, plus further-away markets. Johnstown is a lot smaller than any of the other secondary markets mentioned.) Most markets the size of Pittsburgh don't have non-stop service to Europe, especially if they aren't a hub airport.

4) It has some chance, mainly because it is a nice, well laid-out airport. On the other hand, the main reason why it was a USAirways hub to begin with was because USAirways was originally Allegheny Airlines prior to the 1978 U.S. airline deregulation. In the deregulation era, it is not particularly common for a market the size of Pittsburgh to serve as an airline hub, especially a primary hub, as Pittsburgh was for USAirways for many years. The fact that demographically speaking the Pittsburgh market is older, doesn't have many transplants, and doesn't have a large secondary market population to draw from are factors that weigh against Pittsburgh becoming a hub again. Generally speaking, though airlines put a lot of through traffic through their hubs, they also want their hubs to generate significant origin/destination traffic. Pittsburgh really doesn't do that, at least compared to most current U.S. airline hubs.

The airline industry is generally consolidating, so hubs in medium-sized markets are more likely to disappear than reappear in the next 10 years. Pittsburgh's best chance to become a hub again will probably be with a smaller, specialized airline, ala Midwest Airlines in Milwaukee. However, even in that case, Midwest Airlines probably is located in Milwaukee because A) they can draw significant passengers from the northern Chicagoland suburbs and B) Milwaukee General Mitchell Airport is south of Milwaukee, making it easier for those Chicagoland residents to get there.

5) Don't know.

FWIW, I remember when I was in grad school and lived out in western PA in the late 1990's going to Pittsburgh International Airport. Even at that time, during the airport's peak in passenger, there were a number of empty gates, particularly in the international wing.

[RockLobster]

Chip, thanks for the input ! Some good insight. On the issue concerning nonstop international flights. Some non traditional large market airports with some international service include. CVG- Cincinnati through it's Delta hub does have several nonstop European destinations and Hartford offers non stop service to Amsterdam. I know the Port Columbus Airport serving central Ohio is working on nonstop service to London. Port Columbus is one of the nations fastest growing in passenger count over the past year. Although I think CMH is home to a start up airline in the middle of growth.