Allegehny Airport Authority Putting Final Nail In Its Own Coffin

[Jimmy Neutron]

Airport to close 27 gates, raise airline fees

This should be a lesson in how not to run a business.....

They will be lucky to have any airlines left in PIT after this idiotic move.....

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07299/828755-100.stm

 

[Prince of PAWOBs]

Airport to close 27 gates, raise airline fees

This should be a lesson in how not to run a business.....

They will be lucky to have any airlines left in PIT after this idiotic move.....

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07299/828755-100.stm

I don't know if I completely agree with you yet. The same thing was done with the E Gates when US pulled out of there, as well as the end of B Concourse when, once again, US pulled out of there as well. The county saved a great deal of money in heating, electricity, water and cleaning costs by closing down the unused portions of the airport. Considering that this is a direct result of US Airways recent actions, and it's based in reality, unlike DoUgIe's bonus-saving flight cuts, I can't fault the ACAA for trying to preserve its budget.

Since it's done on an annual basis, I would hope that it would decrease prices next year if the airport drums up some extra business. That might be hard to do if your costs are higher than other airports (a double-edged sword conundrum, to be sure).

Any new airlines that end up using the belt system will probably be pleased with the results, since the county is working on repairing makeup area carousels (i.e. MU3 in the A Concourse) and other parts of the belt system. I think that is a wise use of their budget.

 

[Mike]

No surprise really. This area has had an exodus of some 10000 citizens per year for the last ten or so. And their answer, tax the ones that remain even more. They have hedged all there bets on gambling now. Truly sad.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Actually, if you think back to all the justifications for cutting PIT service the "cost per enplaned passenger" was used as the basis for PIT's high cost - not the rate per square foot or other measures. What has happened as US pulled flights out of PIT? Other airlines saw their enplanement numbers soar while utilizing the same facility space (other than new entrants acquiring space for the first time) - their cost per enplaned passenger was going down (or at worst staying relatively constant). With the coming round of cutbacks, I suspect that other carriers will continue to see little change in their cost per enplaned passenger.

Just a few examples from PIT traffic releases:

Sept 03: "The figures also show that all US Airways traffic is down 28.8 percent for the year." "While all other scheduled carriers combined show an 11.4 percent increase, Delta Airlines, the airport's second-largest carrier in terms of passenger volume, has seen a 16.7 percent increase in traffic, while Continental has seen more than a 25 percent increase."

Sept 04: "Pittsburgh International Airport’s September Scheduled Airline Traffic Report, compiled by the Allegheny County Airport Authority, shows traffic on airlines other than US Airways continued its significant growth, showing an increase of 15.8 percent through September 2004." "US Airways passenger traffic at Pittsburgh International Airport decreased 4.2 percent in September 2004"

Sept 05: "Ten of 12 airlines operating at Pittsburgh International Airport (www.FlyPittsburgh.com) continued to show growth in passenger traffic for the month of September 2005, according to the September Scheduled Airlines Traffic Report issued by the Allegheny County Airport Authority." [There was an accompanying table showing other airlines increased YoY enplanements by as much as 66% while US enplanements dropped 38.9%]

Oct 06 (No PR for Sept): "Eight airlines at Pittsburgh International Airport showed an increase in passenger traffic in October according to the October 2006 Scheduled Airline Traffic Report, prepared by the Allegheny County Airport Authority. Six of those airlines showed growth of more than 10 percent, with four airlines reporting increases of more than 20 percent." "For the month of October, US Airways showed a 14.3 percent decrease in traffic"

Sept 07: "Nine of 12 airlines at Pittsburgh International Airport (www.FlyPittsburgh.com) reported increases in traffic in September 2007 compared to September 2006. Five of those airlines (Southwest Delta, AirTran, USA 3000 and Midwest) reported increases of more than 25 percent." "US Airways had the largest drop of three carriers. The Phoenix-based carrier had a 22.7 percent decrease in passengers"

Jim

 

[avion]

great everyone shows great increases in traffic.. yes since US is cutting back.. but the bottom line are they making money doing so and why have any of them increased at any pace to make up the loss of the US cutbacks.. granted FL has always added service for the winter season to oh yeah god forbid the state that does not have enough service.. FLORIDA.. you dont see anything going on there in terms of any company jumping into PIT and saying heh PIT is going to be a so called focus city i would had even thought that Skybus would have gone to PIT with all the opportunities to have an airport all to themselves. hey PIT has WN the savior of every city will be interesting what they do of anyone else who flys there.

 

[Travelpro72]

Oh my goodness, I better call my family back in Pittsburgh and let them know to pull their children out of school and find jobs elsewhere. Pretty soon the way this story reads we'll have to rely on the Amtrak train or greyhound bus to go on vacation. It is a sticky situation but it will smooth over. I don't think the average person in Pittsburgh truly cares anymore. Ohsie welsie.

 

[flyingcat]

I guess this puts to rest the rumor that Southwest was clamoring for new gates and that all the work was for their unannounced expansion.

I think they will add a few more flights but to think they will go up to 60 flights is a pipe dream. However with out the current US service their rates will go up so they may not even expand at all.

I wonder hor Jetblue will react to their rent increasing?

 

[avion]

Travelpro72 makes me LAUGH stop it already im splitting a gut...

 

[Lloyds1]

Travelpro72 makes me LAUGH stop it already im splitting a gut...

Travelpro72, this is a serious situation, WN is obviously not expanding BIG and I believe U will continue to scale
back. Its really a shame that Airport is in Pittsburgh and not in Philly. Its time Pittsburgh figures out what it wants to be
and begins to remake itself. Increasing fees at the airport will give you less flights not more. Perhaps, the airport
authority should file for BK( I Know the county would have to do the same).

 

[avion]

like US CEO Parker said in his letter to Senator Spector .. the airport was built in what 1998 the times were different then and the airport was built for US well things have changed. the traveling consumers of PIT have spoken and now its up to the newbies like WN/FL/B6 and anyone else who started new service there to pick up the slack if they dont well US was right in its decision .. hey even Mr Spector flew PITPHL on Southwest and enjoyed it and said he even got his bag...with an attitude like that hey PIT go for it Spector said so. according to him WN is your FUTURE>>> remember WN LUVS YOU

 

[trvlr64]

Airport to close 27 gates, raise airline fees

This should be a lesson in how not to run a business.....

They will be lucky to have any airlines left in PIT after this idiotic move.....

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07299/828755-100.stm

How is this an idiotic move? Every airline that services PIT made $$$ over the past year. The airport took a huge hit when US abrogated their leases leaving the airport wondering where they were going to get the $$$ from. So now that every airline is making $$$ again the airport is simply saying.......it's time to pay up, to everyone.

Instead of relying on 1 single carrier to foot the bill they are spreading the cost to every airline. That's only fair business practice.

Closing concourses is finally a smart move on the airport authority. With the amount of traffic in PIT there is no need for concourses C & D. Move every airline into A & B.

 

[FM2436]

I'd bet this and other reasons was why Kent George left PIT as its Director of Aviation. He saw the writing on the wall and headed for Fort Lauderdale. Some of the comments he was making during the US Airways draw down from PIT like' "low cost carriers would fill the void of US Airways" were so absord that I'd have to believe he was told to toot the AAA's prepared speaches. After as many years as he has been in the airport industry (and I have heard him speak on topic addressing airport and airline relationship and the future of the industry) he knew PIT was heading for real troubles and did not want to become the fall guy for a bunch of politically appointed AAA Commissioners who more than likely knew/know nothing about the realities of the airline industry.

 

[PA18]

I don't know if I completely agree with you yet. The same thing was done with the E Gates when US pulled out of there, as well as the end of B Concourse when, once again, US pulled out of there as well. The county saved a great deal of money in heating, electricity, water and cleaning costs by closing down the unused portions of the airport.

You're right. This isn't the first time.

Remember, the B Concourse was walled off at the elbow by B-40 in the post-9/11 drawdown and BK's (although US did park RON a/c at some of those unused gates).

Then, as business returned, the wall was taken down, and those gates were opened again.

 

[Jimmy Neutron]

How is this an idiotic move? Every airline that services PIT made $$$ over the past year. The airport took a huge hit when US abrogated their leases leaving the airport wondering where they were going to get the $$$ from. So now that every airline is making $$$ again the airport is simply saying.......it's time to pay up, to everyone.

Instead of relying on 1 single carrier to foot the bill they are spreading the cost to every airline. That's only fair business practice.

Closing concourses is finally a smart move on the airport authority. With the amount of traffic in PIT there is no need for concourses C & D. Move every airline into A & B.

The closing of gates and concourses is a very smart move, what I'm saying is that raising the costs and fees by 36% in what may be the already highest cost airport in the country will just add fuel to the fire and chase would be tenants away...

Do you think that by increasing the costs to do business will result in airlines lining up to add service or cut service.....my guess would be the second choice...

And wait until Doug gives yet another one of his we tried and tried to make PIT work speeches, but now the costs are just entirely too high for us to operate in..

I was never a fan of Dave Siegel, but he did give US 2 years to come up with a debt reallocation plan to bring the costs down and help keep the hub in PIT and make it a smart choice for all airlines to do business.

That I blame squarely on Fast Eddie Rendell and Jim Roddey who thought they were calling a bluff but were sadly wrong and got burned...

 

[Prince of PAWOBs]

That I blame squarely on Fast Eddie Rendell and Jim Roddey who thought they were calling a bluff but were sadly wrong and got burned...

Now, that I can agree with.

Don't forget Dr. Bronner and his big mouth, too. If planes ran on hot air instead of Jet-A, fuel costs would never be an issue for US Airways.

Speaking of saving money, I see that PSA's tugs are already being sent to CLT. I heard some idiot say that it was to prevent Mainline from acquiring them, which made me laugh so hard I spit coffee onto an unsuspecting floor tile. Poor tile! Anyway, I told the poor fool that tugs and other equipment are probably being acquired by CLT now to beat the rush by PHL Express in their quest for more, more, more. It's no secret that the Express ramp manager in PHL has a ridiculous amount of pull with GSE to allocate pretty much whatever she wants whenever she wants it, and that's because she's very good at her job and she knows how to take care of her operation. It's no coincidence that she used to be the PSA ramp manager in PIT.

So, as things wind down, PIT finds itself with less good equipment to work its measly flight schedule. That's okay, because I'm sure we'll form human chains to move bags if necessary. See? We can do our part to save money right up until the end. Ain't dat sumpthin'?

I'm working on a money-making idea, too. I'm gonna need it for January anyway. Check this out: It's a DoUgIe PEZ dispenser. It has his big head on top of a slightly-melted plastic dispenser (to resemble his wardrobe), and it spits out little tablet-like candies with excuses on them concerning PIT. I was hoping to have them ready for Halloween, but I was warned by one of my distributors that some of the raw materials coming from China might affect the safety of such items with the kiddies. Now, if we were flying the PEZ dispensers to China from, say, PHL......well then......