The US Airways 'deal': Here we go again
PIT PAPER- Thursday, February 22, 2007
Fools tie knots and the wise loosen them, the axiom goes. Once again, it falls to us to attempt to loosen the knot that gushing local and state officials have tied for Pennsylvania taxpayers with their "deal" to land US Airways' new flight operations center at Pittsburgh International Airport.
The same airline that stiffed Pittsburgh by reneging on its airport lease just before emerging from bankruptcy will get an incentive package of $16.25 million to build the $25 million facility. About 450 jobs will be "saved"; an additional 150 jobs will come to the facility.
That is, the public will pay about $108,000 per new job. The combined public cost of the retained/new jobs -- about $27,000 per job.
But why should the public be paying anything? After all, this is the same US Airways that recently bid $10.2 billion to acquire Delta Air Lines.