Pittsburgh airport officials, airlines hold talks

[sp300]

Pittsbugh is a great city (hometown pride). We have a lot to offer. A lot to offer does not include a large population base. Allegheny Airlines origination and destination cities were Pittsburgh to Harrisburg- Pittsburgh to Erie- Pittsburgh to Altoona... Not PIT to LAX, not PIT to MIA. We built the system on small cities. We now go PIT to LAX and PIT to MIA and PIT to PHX. BUT-- the people on those flights still come from the smaller cities via the HUB. Pittsburgh does not generate enough pax, but the HUB does.

America West is a very good airline. I don't know if they will get enough people to fly from PIT to PHX, since they have no Hub in PIT.

You make speak pejoratively about USAirways, but we do get you to a lot of places (more now with u/ua).

Now about ticket prices-- $100 to fly anywhere (when space is available), isn't all that bad. Since PIT is a hub, you have many choices.

Don't fly on another airline, fly USAirways-- we need the business.

 

[TomBascom]

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On 10/3/2002 7:40:12 PM sp300 wrote:
Now about ticket prices-- $100 to fly anywhere (when space is available), isn't all that bad. Since PIT is a hub, you have many choices.

Don't fly on another airline, fly USAirways-- we need the business.
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[/blockquote]

Drinking management kool-aid eh?

$100 to fly anywhere so long as the moon is full, you walk backwards through security, buy the ticket no later than all saints day, for travel no sooner than april fools day and no later than groundhog day and if you have the slightest thought of ever changing any of those plans that will be $2,000 thank you.

By the way, the cheapest tickets that this cockroach ever manages to score are about $250. And on the routes that I fly that still works out to $0.12/mile.

 

[Oliver Stone''s Apprentice]

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On 10/3/2002 445 PM trvlr64 wrote:

I just got the information off the PA.GOV website for the 5 counties that surround the PIT and PHL airports.
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US Census 2000 data shows metro PIT at 2.3M, and metro PHL at 6.2M which is a far cry from 3.7M on PA.Gov... They must have forgotten about people who live in NJ and DE, both of which may have portions which fall into the PHL Metro area...

What's more telling is that PHL has grown 5% between 1990 and 2000, where PIT has dropped in population by 1.5% in the same timeframe. Not huge, but still a drop.

[a href=http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/phc-t3.html]US Census Data[/a]

The T-3 data has a lot of interesting information that also applies to US Airways and the PIT discussion... Only 6 of the top 100 metro areas in the US had negative population growth -- PIT, BUF, SYR, DAY, Youngstown, and Scranton.

You have to go down to #231 (Alexandria, LA) to find a metro area with negative growth outside of eastern Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York state.

Is it a coincidence that these cities and states are part of the historical catchement area for PIT as a hub?

 

[longonsofty]

The low cost carrier I work for only hires for full time positions (at least at my station) and pays more than just over minimum wage. I can't speak for other low cost carriers and what they pay, but ,in my opinion, you were grasping at straws with your comments.
And how would Pittsburgh be hurt by new entrants into the market? It seems to me that more competition would be good for everyone. Certainly, the consumer would benefit.

 

[DLFlyer31]

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On 10/3/2002 7:40:12 PM sp300 wrote:

America West is a very good airline. I don't know if they will get enough people to fly from PIT to PHX, since they have no Hub in PIT.
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[/blockquote]

They don't have to have a hub in PIT to be successful. There are tons of Western cities that AWA will give PIT flyers access to that US can't. Of course, the US codeshare will help this problem, but HP can get people to these Western destinations at a lower fare than US/UA and still make money.

 

[autofixer]

ClueByFour, Like it wasn't enough to blow $10 million on the new terminal???? Do you really long for that old terminal? How dark!

 

[ClueByFour]

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On 10/4/2002 9:09:33 AM autofixer wrote:

ClueByFour, "Like it wasn't enough to blow $10 million on the new terminal"???? Do you really long for that old terminal? How dark!
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In the context of my remarks, what I think of the building is not really relavent. I like it, as a passenger.

As a taxpayer, however, I will shortly have the most expensive express hub on the planet, for all intents and purposes. One in which the dominant carrier's RJ pax must still walk out to the RJs uncovered, while AA has been boarding everything jet thru bridges for ages.

See the disconnect?