"Editorial: Facing Pittsburgh airport's future, post-US Airways"

Monday, May 10, 2004    

Editorial: Focus airline / Facing the airport's future, post-US Airways
The Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette


It is easy to get mired in doom and gloom over the latest news from US
Airways. The carrier that provides 8,000 jobs and 379 daily flights to
this region said last week that its recovery plan calls for Pittsburgh
to lose its hub status and become a mere "focus city," where a good bit,
but not nearly as much, of the company's activity would be concentrated.

That strategic calculation by the Arlington, Va.-based airline has local
mechanics, reservationists, flight attendants and pilots on edge. It has
the Pittsburgh business community trying to gauge the impact on economic
development. And it has government officials working overtime to salvage
as much of US Airways' business as they can.

That is what the latter should be doing, because competition unlike any
seen before at Pittsburgh International Airport could be one fortunate
outcome of a reduced US Airways presence (it now accounts for 87 percent
of Pittsburgh's air traffic). Upstart, low-cost airlines that refuse to
go nose-to-nose with an entrenched carrier will take a fresh look at an
airport suddenly with excess gates and a customer base seeking flight
options and better service. It has happened in other markets where a
dominant carrier has departed, and it could happen here. 

What would improve the chances of that is work by the state and the
county to reduce the cost of all airlines operating from Pittsburgh. No
carrier is likely to set up shop, given this cutthroat business, in a
travel market that is not competitive. That's why Gov. Ed Rendell's
desire to use revenue from the slots-at-the-track proposal to cut the
airport's debt -- and therefore its cost to any airline -- is an
important initiative for this region. 

Under the leadership of county Chief Executive Dan Onorato and Airport
Authority Director Kent George, those who are trying to position
Pittsburgh International for a new phase of use and, we hope, vitality
deserve credit for being realistic about what can be accomplished and
what cannot. 

Pessimists can dwell on the way things were, but the only way for
Pittsburgh to confront its future, post-US Airways, is with eyes wide
open and feet on the ground.


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