Swa-pittsburgh

[swflyer]

Hopefully, this'll stay on topic. Latest news: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

P.S. Apologies for not capitalizing the city name in the topic line. :unsure:

Southwest Airlines to get prominent spot at airport
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It won't be hard for customers and rival US Airways workers to find Southwest Airlines when the airline launches service at Pittsburgh International Airport in May.

That's because the nation's largest discount carrier will get a prominent spot in the airport's boarding terminal, occupying at least one gate on the A concourse, now the exclusive domain of US Airways.

How many gates Southwest will end up with hasn't been determined, but the spots it most likely will get will be at the very start of the 25-gate A concourse.

"The reason we ended up picking [the A concourse] is the proximity to ramps and it was just more convenient for our customers and our operations," Southwest spokeswoman Marilee McInnis said.

The decision probably will force US Airways, still the airport's dominant carrier despite numerous cutbacks, to move at least a handful of its flights to the far end of the B concourse, where there are nine empty gates.

US Airways at one time controlled all of the gates on the A and B concourses under a long-term lease with the Allegheny County Airport Authority.

But that changed in 2003, when the airline canceled the lease shortly before emerging from bankruptcy for the first time.

It subsequently signed a long-term lease for only 10 gates and rented another 40 month-to-month, which has now fallen to 31. That airline's decision to forgo longer-term leases on more gates gives the Airport Authority the flexibility to take gates from US Airways on the A concourse and assign them to Southwest, which plans to sign a long-term lease. All of US Airways' A concourse slots are rented monthly.

Airport Authority Executive Director Kent George said the A concourse gates seemed to be "the best alternative" for Southwest, which prides itself on quick turnarounds.

Southwest is expected to start its Pittsburgh service with one or two gates and 10 to 15 flights a day to four to six destinations. George has predicted it eventually could expand to 40 to 50 flights a day in 12 to 18 months if Southwest service proves to be popular with Pittsburgh travelers.

Destinations won't be announced until next month, but a likely one is Chicago's Midway Airport, where ATA Airlines is dropping service from Pittsburgh at the end of January, opening the door for Southwest.

Other possible destinations include Philadelphia, St. Louis, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and some Florida markets.

Southwest will have ticket space on the south end of the airport's Landside building near the Continental Airlines ticket counter.

As Southwest prepares to begin service, America West Airlines announced yesterday that it would add a daily nonstop flight from Pittsburgh to its Las Vegas hub starting April 3.

America West, the nation's second-largest discount carrier, now has one flight a day between Pittsburgh and Phoenix, its other hub. The airline decided to add the Las Vegas nonstop after discovering the so-called Sin City was a popular destination for Pittsburgh travelers.

The flight, utilizing an Airbus 320 jet which seats 150 people, will leave Pittsburgh at 8:45 a.m. each day.

 

[USAirUnited]

I hope that SWA will make a huge splash here in PIT. US Airways has burned so many bridges here with employees, goverment, and vendors that I now see a strong resentment towards them.

 

[justaumechanic]

Southwest should get a good spot.. The county would be wise to push US Airways to the very ends of A and B and C and move Frontier, AirTran, Southwest and JetBlue to the front gate areas..

Let airlines that are happy to be there and want to serve the area get the good spots.. Let the airlines that want a free handout make the passengers walk..

Lets see I can fly to PHL on LUV for $49 and be on gate 1 and 2 or I can pay $299 on US and fly to PHL out of gate 50.. Hmmmm.. I think I will go with LUV.

My hope is that Southwest puts flights to Florida, PHL, MHT and of course CLT in the future.. POUND it into US Airways and make them cry like babies.

Yes I used to work at US Airways.. I left last year on my own and wish nothing good for US Airways.. There is no group of people they did not hurt and the sad part is they enjoyed every min. of doing it.

Southwest.. "You are now Free to BONE US Airways at any point in the country"..

 

[firstamendment]

Southwest should get a good spot.. The county would be wise to push US Airways to the very ends of A and B and C and move Frontier, AirTran, Southwest and JetBlue to the front gate areas..

Let airlines that are happy to be there and want to serve the area get the good spots.. Let the airlines that want a free handout make the passengers walk..

Lets see I can fly to PHL on LUV for $49 and be on gate 1 and 2 or I can pay $299 on US and fly to PHL out of gate 50.. Hmmmm.. I think I will go with LUV.

My hope is that Southwest puts flights to Florida, PHL, MHT and of course CLT in the future.. POUND it into US Airways and make them cry like babies.

Yes I used to work at US Airways.. I left last year on my own and wish nothing good for US Airways.. There is no group of people they did not hurt and the sad part is they enjoyed every min. of doing it.

Southwest.. "You are now Free to BONE US Airways at any point in the country"..

[post="243479"][/post]​

Paging Bitter Pill, party of one. I guess your HATE for US management is extended to the 28,000 employees. Glad you're gone. Now if we can get rid of about a few more losers like you maybe the company will survive. :down: :angry:

 

[swflyer]

SERIOUSLY!!!

If you want to carp at eachother, start your own topic. <_< People have different experiences at different carriers, but we're all in the same business, and a basic respect for eachother is part of this forum's policies.

This topic is for postings related to the service start at Pittsburgh.

Thankyouverymuch!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ClueByFour]

I'm kind of suprised LUV does not want the gates at the very end of A or B (cannot remember off the top of my head which ones U is not using) if for no other reason than to shorten turns. Not that PIT really has "alleys" or ramp congestion, but LUV is known for squeezing every last bit of operational efficiency out of the operation and easy acccess to the 28s helps (although there is no "short" taxi from 32 arrivals).....

With the moving walkways, it's not like it's that bad of a walk out to the end of A or B.

 

[BoeingBoy]

I think it's a trade-off, Clue. The end of the concourse would give shorter taxi-out's, but longer taxi-in's, generally speaking. Of course, the difference is minor, and specific runway/gate combinations would favor either gate location.

Jim

 

[WNrforlife]

Southwest should get a good spot.. The county would be wise to push US Airways to the very ends of A and B and C and move Frontier, AirTran, Southwest and JetBlue to the front gate areas..

Let airlines that are happy to be there and want to serve the area get the good spots.. Let the airlines that want a free handout make the passengers walk..

Lets see I can fly to PHL on LUV for $49 and be on gate 1 and 2 or I can pay $299 on US and fly to PHL out of gate 50.. Hmmmm.. I think I will go with LUV.

My hope is that Southwest puts flights to Florida, PHL, MHT and of course CLT in the future.. POUND it into US Airways and make them cry like babies.

Yes I used to work at US Airways.. I left last year on my own and wish nothing good for US Airways.. There is no group of people they did not hurt and the sad part is they enjoyed every min. of doing it.

Southwest.. "You are now Free to BONE US Airways at any point in the country"..

[post="243479"][/post]​

Good One......

 

[sfb]

Well, I figure that with 2/3 or more of US Airways' flights (and probably half the passengers) leaving out from the A Concourse, the marketing opportunities (banners, posters, happy-looking employees) that come from having gates next to the core have got to be pretty tremendous.

 

[Whatnow?]

I hope that SWA will make a huge splash here in PIT. US Airways has burned so many bridges here with employees, goverment, and vendors that I now see a strong resentment towards them.

[post="243210"][/post]​

How soon we forget! The city of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, and the Airport Authority are all responsible for running USAirways out of town! All USAirways wanted was the SAME breaks that the city is now giving all of the new LCC's entering the market! HMMM.....sounds like who wanted who out of Pittsburgh? It's very unfortunate that GREED on the city of Pittsburgh's part led to the dismantling of a major presence there.....not to mention the thousands and yes thousands of job losses and major impact on the local Pittsburgh economy.

 

[justaumechanic]

Paging Bitter Pill, party of one. I guess your HATE for US management is extended to the 28,000 employees. Glad you're gone. Now if we can get rid of about a few more losers like you maybe the company will survive. :down: :angry:

[post="243565"][/post]​

Posted like the company stooge you are. You are probably a management weiner!! Or should I say management whiner!!

The reality of it.. You will probably be the first one in line at the LUV employment fair they will have in PIT..

 

[ELP_WN_Psgr]

How soon we forget! The city of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, and the Airport Authority are all responsible for running USAirways out of town! All USAirways wanted was the SAME breaks that the city is now giving all of the new LCC's entering the market! HMMM.....sounds like who wanted who out of Pittsburgh? It's very unfortunate that GREED on the city of Pittsburgh's part led to the dismantling of a major presence there.....not to mention the thousands and yes thousands of job losses and major impact on the local Pittsburgh economy.

Excuse me?

To the best of my knowledge Allegheny County et al is not providing any sort of incentives to Southwest Airlines Co for inaugurating service to their fair city...ither than a shot at some pretty good gate and counter space.

If you want to talk about greed....and if you are associated with USAirways Group and/or its management I don't think you want to go down that road.......let's talk about an airline that has a hub airport constructed by the taxpayers to their rather exacting specifications and then they reject all of the leases during a bankruptcy brought about by their own mismanagement.

Here's what is fixing to happen: Southwest is going to go into Pittsburgh.`O&D Traffic is going to look a lot better a year from now. Southwest will add flights quickly but prudently and in 3 yrs or so, you will have a station about the size of Nashville....maybe bigger.

It has nothing to do with concessions or incentives and it has nothing to do with wanting to kill USAirways. It's a business opportunity, and a good one. USAirways had previously announced they were pulling down their hub there. That means fewer flights, more RJs, and more flights where passengers have to connect at CLT or PHL. We've heard how much fun the latter can be. WN tends to try and offer folks something less painful to get them to their destination.

The fact that the inimitable Seth and his much-vaunted go fares haven't really made it into Pittsburgh only makes it that much more desirable a destination for the ugly planes.

When it comes to market development, there are LCCs and then there's Southwest. I'm not quite sure why this is, but when Southwest goes someplace new it just seems to egnerate a whole bunch more new traffic than when, for instance, AirTran opens up a new station. A carrier that can offer 11 full-size-jet trips a day out of a market like Harlingen, TX has to be doing something different (not to mention right).

 

[JS]

US Airways is using the end of the A concourse (the high numbers, gates 19-25 if I remember correctly). These gates are used for Express turboprop departures and are probably better set up there than the regular gates close to the central core. There are jetways with stairs that lead to the tarmac.

Most of those flights used to operate out of the E concourse, which was specifically designed for small plane flights. I suppose the end-of-A gates were the closest type of setup.

 

[Whatnow?]

Excuse me?

To the best of my knowledge Allegheny County et al is not providing any sort of incentives to Southwest Airlines Co for inaugurating service to their fair city...ither than a shot at some pretty good gate and counter space.

If you want to talk about greed....and if you are associated with USAirways Group and/or its management I don't think you want to go down that road.......let's talk about an airline that has a hub airport constructed by the taxpayers to their rather exacting specifications and then they reject all of the leases during a bankruptcy brought about by their own mismanagement.

Here's what is fixing to happen: Southwest is going to go into Pittsburgh.`O&D Traffic is going to look a lot better a year from now. Southwest will add flights quickly but prudently and in 3 yrs or so, you will have a station about the size of Nashville....maybe bigger.





Sounding a little defensive there. The city of Pittsburgh has been whining for years and years to get SWA to fly out of their Airport. They have publically denounced USAirways for as long as I can remember, even the Mayor of Pittsburgh a couple of years back was quoted on the local Pittsburgh news stating that he drives over 2 hors to Cleveland to fly SWA instead of flying out of Pittsburgh on USAirways. SWA for years has said they had no intention of flying into PIT, but now they see it as to go after the WEAK Airline.

Here's what's fixing to happen at PIT: All of the Legacy carriers will eventually pull out of there because of the increased LCC entrants like SWA, they simply won't be able to compete with that many LCC's in the market, especially because they don't have much market share even now. The local economy has already suffered and will continue to suffer as long as US continues to cutback there......that is the unfortunate part of this whole thing! Why couldn't the city help out a struggling carrier that employed at one point up to 12,000 employees who contributed to the local economy base and the Airline who contributed vastly to the local economy? Be careful of what you ask for! B)

 

[ELP_WN_Psgr]

Why couldn't the city help out a struggling carrier that employed at one point up to 12,000 employees who contributed to the local economy base and the Airline who contributed vastly to the local economy?

First of all, I'm not defensive at all. I call them like I see them. I'm not an employee of Southwest nor do I have any financial stake in their well-being.

To answer the question highlighted above....at what cost?

By succumbing to the desire to have a "hub" in their city Pittsburgh travelers had been victimized for a long time, and very badly.

Walk up and business travel fares have bordered on the obscene.

Believe it or not, lower fares can serve a community better than 12,000 jobs...especially at the burger-flipping rates that U's management seems bound and determined to pay its workforce.

If more people travel, more tax revenues are generated that accrue to the airport's benefit. More people rent cars. One thing I think Pittsburgh's airport management is going to find out is that there is not enough parking anymore.

It's funny when you realize that Dallas Love Field has more parking spaces now than they did before all the other airlines moved out to DFW. When Southwest inaugurated service to Lubbock in 1977, the city fathers had just opened a new terminal with enough parking, so they said, to last until 2000. 6 months after Southwest arrived they were busy paving cotton fields near the airport to handle the influx of new travelers.

Lower fares...not just el cheapo seats to Florida or Vegas but truly lower walk up fares to business centers...like Chicago, the DC area, Kansas City, etc etc.....are an economic tonic to not just the airport but to the entire community.

Cities that are not hubs don't seem any worse for wear. To the best of my knowledge Kansas City, Nashville, San Antonio, & Austin all seem to enjoy reasonably decent economies, lower air fares, and their citizens can still manage to get where they are going.

After the mud that USAirways dragged Allegheny County through, I think whining about deserving additional concessions is a bit over the top.