"Pittsburgh Airport continues to see fewer fliers, but cargo is a bright spot"

Tuesday, August 10, 2004

Airport continues to see fewer fliers, but cargo is a bright spot
The Pittsburgh (PA) Business Times


Pittsburgh International Airport has seen year-to-date traffic decrease
by 2.3 percent compared to 2003, the Allegheny County Airport Authority
said Tuesday. 
  
The number of passengers using the airport dropped from about 7 million
through June of 2003 to nearly 6.9 million through June 2004, the
authority said. 

Traffic was also down 0.9 percent for the month of June. The airport's
number of passengers decreased from more than 1.3 million in June 2003
to just over 1.29 million in June 2004. 

The depressed passenger traffic figures come as Arlington, Va.-based US
Airways, the dominant carrier at Pittsburgh International, is in the
midst of downsizing its local presence, stripping Pittsburgh of its hub
status and reducing it to a so-called "focus city." 

However, there was some good news in the Airport Authority's traffic
report. 

More than 18 million pounds of cargo passed through the airport in June
2004 -- an 11.7 percent increase over the amount that passed through in
June 2003, according to the Airport Authority. June signaled the third
consecutive month that cargo volume has shown a more than 11 percent
increase. 

In addition, passenger traffic increased by 8.3 percent from May to June
this year. More than 1.29 million passengers traveled through the
airport in June, compared to almost 1.2 million in May, the Airport
Authority said. 

The authority also said that traffic on airlines other than US Airways
increased 19.2 percent through June. 

Among the airlines showing the largest increase of passengers was Delta,
whose passenger count jumped from 330,095 in June 2003 to 352,642 in
June 2004, according to the Airport Authority. 

AirTran Airlines saw its Pittsburgh passenger count jump from 132,634 in
2003 to 151,602 this year. American Airlines also saw an increase during
that same period from 175,561 to 200,160. Northwest Airlines' passenger
count jumped from 144,467 to 164,281, while and United's increased from
176,651 to 181,675, the Airport Authority said. 

"The bright spot is our customers are continually taking advantage of
the different travel options available to them," Airport Authority
executive director Kent George said in a news release. 

At the same time, US Airways' passenger traffic at Pittsburgh
International dropped about 4 percent in June 2004 -- down from more
than 1.05 million the prior year to nearly 1.01 million. Year-to-date
figures showed a roughly 6.3 percent decrease for US Airways, from
nearly 5.8 million in 2003 to 5.4 million in 2004, according to the
Airport Authority.


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