"Pittsburgh Airport will get common ticketing stations"

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Airport will get common ticketing stations
By Mark Belko
The Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette


By mid summer, travelers flying from Pittsburgh International Airport won't
have to visit ticket counters or log on to computers to get boarding passes
for flights.

That's because the Allegheny County Airport Authority plans to install eight
self-service kiosks at the terminal and elsewhere that will allow passengers
to check in and secure a boarding pass for flights out of Pittsburgh
International.

Most airlines will be connected to the system, enabling travelers to bypass
ticket counters. Besides the terminal, the authority is hoping to place
kiosks at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the Hyatt Regency Hotel
at the airport and perhaps other major hotels or travel centers in the
region. A similar system is in operation in Las Vegas.

Currently, travelers at the airport can get boarding passes at the ticket
counters of the individual airlines or from US Airways and Southwest
Airlines kiosks located in the terminal. Other airlines have been asking the
authority to place their own kiosks in the terminal.

But rather than clutter terminal space with kiosks from multiple airlines,
the authority decided to enter into a contract worth up to $1.5 million over
two years with ARINC Inc. for eight kiosks that would serve all airlines,
and place them in and outside the terminal.

"If we had to do one for all 10 or 12 [airlines], it's not an efficient use
of space. It's not effective. This is much easier, much simpler, and much
more efficient," authority Executive Director Kent George said.

As part of its contract, ARINC also will be managing gate space for the
airport. It will monitor which airlines are using what gates and assign or
reassign space as needed.

Also yesterday, Moody's Investors Service upgraded the authority's bond
rating from Baa2 to Baa1. In doing so, the New York rating agency cited the
authority's "successful management" of the loss of the US Airways hub, the
start of service by Southwest Airlines, and US Airways' emergence from
bankruptcy and its merger with America West Airlines.

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