"Pittsburgh Airport traffic rises first time in 1 1/2 years"

Friday, June 11, 2004

Airport traffic rises first time in 1 1/2 years
But gains could be short-lived because of loss of hub status
By Mark Belko
The Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette


For the first time in what seems like eons, passenger traffic is up at
Pittsburgh International Airport. Overall traffic rose 6.5 percent in April
vs. a year ago -- the first month over month increase since September 2002,
the Allegheny Airport Authority said.

April's increase ended an 18-month span during which passenger traffic
plummeted to its lowest levels since 1984 and was fueled by a rare jump at
US Airways.

Traffic at the airport's dominant carrier rose 2.8 percent vs. April 2003,
even though the airline has been scaling back service. Other airlines also
marked substantial gains, with their traffic surging 22 percent since the
start of 2004.

Airport Authority officials said the increase showed that people's travel
habits were finally starting to return to pre-9/11 levels -- and that they
are willing to choose airlines other than US Airways. "This is a positive
trend for the Airport Authority because it could influence other carriers'
focus on Pittsburgh," authority Executive Director Kent George said
yesterday.

However, authority spokeswoman JoAnn Jenny doesn't expect the trend to last
long. She said she expected passenger travel to drop again this fall when US
Airways dumps Pittsburgh as a hub and makes it a "focus city," which will
result in a steep loss of daily flights and nonstop destinations.

"I don't think it's anything to get too excited about because once US
Airways starts cutting in the fall, it's going to have a negative impact,"
she said. Local officials estimate the airline's daily flights eventually
could fall from 379 to just above 100.

Nonetheless, Jenny predicted that the overall traffic should continue to
increase at the airport over the next couple of months because of the busy
summer travel season and an economic recovery that's finally starting to
feel like one, with jobs and incomes on the rise. "I don't want to get too
excited because it may just basically be a summer trend. That's my judgment
on it," she said.

A total of 1.23 million travelers passed through the airport in April, about
75,000 more than the same month in 2003. Of those travelers, 981,807 flew on
US Airways, still by far the largest airline in Pittsburgh.

Despite the April spurt, overall traffic for the year is down 2.4 percent
compared with the first four months of 2003.


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