The big picture here is more about keeping jobs in the Pittsburgh area than about convenience for travelers from PIT. After all, at least 25% of US Airways'' flights from PIT serve almost solely connecting traffic (who flies from PIT to AOO, SCE, IPT, ERI, CLE, MGW, etc.?) I think it''s also quite clear that US Airways would be foolish to abandon many of the denser, profitable routes from PIT, like LGA, DCA, ORD, PHL, BOS, LAX, SFO, etc. -- the average yield on PIT-BOS is $0.44 cents/mile, after all.
The end result of not coming to some sort of agreement isn''t pretty for either US Airways or the county government. The county loses thousands of jobs and would still face default on the bonds backed by the US Airways leases. US Airways loses an efficient connecting facility *and* opens up yet another hole for the low-cost carriers to fill. There really are no cities/airports which would make for a better hub than PIT, not to mention the sheer cost of starting a new hub. While it wouldn''t be tough to move 75-100 daily mainline departures to PHL and CLT (I see US maintaining 50-75 mainline departures at a reduced PIT, somewhat like BWI before Southwest), this certainly would also throw a monkey wrench into the plans for Midatlantic, since PIT is the hub for which the MDA regional jets are best suited. And if WN, FL, B6, or F9 were to get a serious foothold in PIT, US would be hard-pressed to get its hub back.
There''s also some significant interest for the state of Pennsylvania in seeing US Airways keep its hub at PIT (beyond Pittsburgh-area jobs); after all, US is the dominant or sole carrier at many small Pennsylvania airports.
It seems to me that there is a tough choice ahead. Bowing to pressure from US Airways keeps jobs in Pittsburgh but leaves the county on the hook for a lot of cash, not to mention keeping PIT airfares high. Telling Dave to take a hike means massive job losses (and the county''s still stuck with the debt) but opens an opportunity for more competition. I do believe that one of the discounters would come into PIT, with an operation of 50-100 flights after a few years -- but only if airport costs were under control, which is basically the whole issue now.