"Pittsburgh Airport officials look across the ocean"

Thursday, August 23, 2007 

Airport officials look across the ocean
By Thomas Olson
The Pittsburgh (PA) Tribune-Review


Allegheny County officials are talking to three international carriers,
including Virgin America, about starting nonstop flights between Pittsburgh
and Europe, said Pittsburgh International Airport's chief on Wednesday. 

Kent George, executive director of the Allegheny County Airport Authority,
said he and other county officials plan to pitch Pittsburgh to international
airlines at an industry conference next month in Stockholm. It is hosting
the 13th World Route Development Forum Sept. 23 to 25, in which airport
officials worldwide compete to lure airlines to begin or expand service to
their cities. 

"This is a very difficult task," because it's not easy to demonstrate
there's sufficient Pittsburgh demand to fill international flights
year-round, George said. He declined to name the other two airlines to which
he's talking. 

Virgin America began operating Aug. 8, with San Francisco service to Los
Angeles and New York. It plans to expand to Las Vegas and Washington, D.C.,
by early October. 

Pittsburgh has been without nonstop service to Europe since November 2004,
when US Airways ended nonstop flights to Frankfurt and London. But there's
new impetus for restoring European service: The recently negotiated "open
skies" treaty between Washington and the European Union will allow more
flying across the Atlantic beginning in March. 

The Pittsburgh market already has benefited from the domestic low-fare
airlines that local officials have lured here since 2000, said a study
released yesterday. In the past six years, Pittsburgh International's
addition of discount carriers lowered average fares by 27 percent and
brought jobs to the airport and tourism to the region. 


Low-fare airlines such as Southwest, JetBlue and AirTran employ 429 people
and contributed to the creation of another 189 jobs, according to the study
by Wilbur Smith Associates, Cincinnati. 

The study estimates that leisure travelers in the Pittsburgh area saved
$64.4 million in air fare last year through discounter alternatives to major
airlines. Local business travelers saved an estimated $109.8 million. 

The study also found that low-fare carriers brought 110,600 visitors to
Pittsburgh last year who spent about $43.3 million in this region. 

"But we have to support those carriers," said George during a news
conference. He noted that two discount carriers -- Vanguard and Independence
Air -- entered then pulled out of Pittsburgh in recent years. 

The airport authority hired Wilbur Smith Associates to analyze the economic
impact of low-fare service here in June, one year since the arrival of
JetBlue, the latest discounter to begin service. The authority has
endeavored to lure discounters here since 2002, when US Airways filed for
bankruptcy and began converting Pittsburgh from a hub operation with more
than 500 daily flights to a base with 125. 

US Airways' share of Pittsburgh flights has plunged to 51.5 percent from
86.8 percent in 2006, said the study. At the same time, discount carrier's
share has jumped from 1.7 percent to 17.5 percent. 

Separately, George said he has not formally accepted a similar position with
the Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood (Florida) International Airport. George, who
has headed the airport authority for nine years, said the Florida contract
has not been finalized but that he expects to make a decision next week.

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