"Pittsburgh Airport launches ad campaign to take passengers under wing"

Saturday, July 10, 2004 

Airport launches ad campaign to take passengers under wing
By Jim Ritchie
The Pittsburgh (PA) Tribune-Review


Ads aimed at luring nearly 2 million travelers to Pittsburgh International
Airport will hit television and radio in September.

The Allegheny County Airport Authority on Friday approved spending $360,500
for three months of advertising aimed at potential travelers in and around
Pittsburgh, Erie and Youngstown, Ohio. 

"We want to target passengers who are deciding whether to fly from
Cleveland, Columbus, Baltimore or elsewhere," said Kent George, authority
executive director. "Let's go after these passengers, and let's get them in
here." 

Airport officials long have said they lose passengers to nearby airports
because of Pittsburgh International's high fares. George estimated 750,000
passengers a year go elsewhere to fly and an unknown number of others choose
to drive or not travel. 

Pittsburgh International's days of high fares because of the dominance of
one airline, US Airways, are fading, he said. US Airways continues to reduce
its hub as other airlines' passenger counts grow. 

US Airways traffic was down 6.8 percent from January through May, while all
other airlines combined are up 20.8 percent. That includes low-fare airlines
that arrived in Pittsburgh in recent years, such as America West, AirTran
and ATA. 

The competition has dropped fares to many markets. Falling tickets prices,
combined with the airport's minimal delays and modern terminal, is a key
selling point. 

"When they use Pittsburgh once, we never have to sell them again," George
said. 

One competing airport is Akron-Canton Regional in Ohio, about two hours west
of Pittsburgh. The Boyd Group, an aviation consulting firm in Evergreen,
Colo., predicted a 21 percent passenger gain for Akron-Canton through 2008,
the highest of any U.S. airport. 

The Boyd Group projected Pittsburgh International would see a 15 percent
drop in the same period. 

More than 14 million passengers flew in and out of Pittsburgh International
in 2003, compared to the 1.3 million who used Akron-Canton. 

Akron-Canton Executive Director Frederick Krum said he's not worried by the
Pittsburgh International advertising blitz. 

"I don't think it hurts anything, and I don't think it will hurt us," Krum
said. "We probably lure more passengers from Cleveland than we do
Pittsburgh." 

The Airport Authority board voted 8-0 to advertise Pittsburgh International
on television, radio, billboards and the Internet from September through
November. The board could continue the campaign if the ads work. Board
member David Mayernik didn't attend yesterday's meeting. 

The authority also told George to develop a plan to replace airlines'
e-ticket kiosks with so-called common-use kiosks at which passengers could
get boarding passes on all airlines. Now, passengers using, for example, a
US Airways kiosk can get boarding passes for that airline only.


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