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Airport News, "County officials dispute Pittsburgh airport study"
Friday, October 29, 1999
County officials dispute airport study
Information indicates travelers pay more at Pittsburgh
By The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Allegheny County officials Thursday disputed a study that concluded
travelers pay more to fly from Pittsburgh International Airport than other
comparable terminals.
And county Aviation Director Kent George said more competition is coming to
Pittsburgh soon, including two new airlines that will serve the airport by
the end of the year.
A study released last week by Allegheny Institute for Public Policy, based
on the North Side, concluded fares from Pittsburgh to other cities are 53
percent higher than those in Seattle, 43 percent higher than in Baltimore
and 27 percent higher than in Cleveland.
George said the study unfairly compared prices for fares to different
destinations, instead of comparing costs per mile per passenger.
"Our cost per passenger-mile corresponds with Denver, Cleveland and others,"
he said. On that basis, George said, a study the county commissioned from
Boyd Group/ASRC Inc. shows "our fares are comparable with the other
facilities."
Allegheny County Commission Chairman Mike Dawida said the Allegheny
Institute is biased.
"Anything the Allegheny Institute does is suspect because they start with
the answer and work backwards," Dawida said.
George admitted that fares from Pittsburgh International, where 90 percent
of the flights are operated by US Airways, could be lower if there was more
competition, "but we're not being gouged."
"The comparison doesn't make any difference. The perception is the reality,"
he said. "We're trying to get the discretionary traveler to turn around and
come back" to Pittsburgh.
A new airline - Skywest Express, a regional carrier - begins service here on
Monday, George said, and another carrier will begin flights to the Bahamas
later this year.
George also said the county is negotiating with two major carriers to bring
more flights to Pittsburgh, but he declined to name them.
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