Hear a pin drop

autofixer

Veteran
Aug 20, 2002
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www.usaviation.com
What a shame. One of the best, if not the best, terminals and airport facilities in the U.S. It appears to be on the U chopping block.
 
On Sunday (one of the busiest travel days of the year) you could hear a pin drop in the Airside Terminal.
I''m not wondering if managemnet isn''t testing the system and possibly routing passengers thru CLT or PHL to see if they can shrink the PIT hub.
Any thoughts ?
I also heard 10 businesses are pulling out due to poor sales. WH Smith said they are losing $10,000 per day from all their stores.
 
It could be the drop in sales for the shops is because no one without a ticket is allowed past security. I've been told that many local PIT folks used to come to shop at the airport.

What a shame. There's some great shops there. Last two years I did almost all my Christmas shopping there.
 
That cannot be a primary reason anymore. there was a recent Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article that noted how well the retail operations there had rebounded post-9/11.

http://www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/2...911airport3.asp

Yes, they were getting killed this time last year. But the primary reason for the bounceback is that in general all passengers are getting to the airport earlier, and thus have more time to shop. Cutting back on air meals has helped the restaurants even more. I think the article said business was 'only' down about 5% from last year. I know that retail margins are thin, but a 5% decrease shouldnt be enough to justify giving up and not trying to weather the storm.

The most important thing to watch is whether the shift from big to small jets affects sales.
 
Is it not too close to BWI and MDW? That is not to say they could not serve the airport with several flights per day. Maybe AirTran could come back and fill the void...sounds like there is already a void to fill.
 
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[BLOCKQUOTE][BR]----------------[BR]On 12/3/2002 11:47:56 AM autofixer wrote: [BR][BR]Is it not too close to BWI and MDW?[BR]----------------[/BLOCKQUOTE][BR][BR]I don't think that would be an issue. When AA bought TWA everyone thought that STL was too close to ORD and DFW and would be shut down. STL is now a key hub and therefore too important to dissolve. PIT is a major hub for the east and midwest.
 
You are forgeting one thing.......there are several thousand less USAirways employees that would shop and eat at the airport.
In PIT alone it amounts to hundreds of employees.