US Airways to cut 135 daily flights at Pittsburgh

[UpInArms]

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2004-07-20-pittsburgh-cuts_x.htm

NEW YORK (Reuters) — US Airways plans to slash service by some 135 daily flights at Pittsburgh International Airport in November, downgrading the city from a "hub" to a "focus city," airport officials said Tuesday.

In a statement issued earlier Tuesday, the struggling No. 7 U.S. airline said it planned to keep about 240 daily non-stop departures from Pittsburgh to about 65 markets. That would be a steep cut from its current roster of around 375 daily flights.

A spokesman for US Airways was not immediately available to comment on the planned reduction in flights.

In its statement, US Airways said it met with Pittsburgh-area officials Tuesday to discuss the reduced schedule, which takes effect on Nov. 4.

"This is the first time US Airways has notified Pittsburgh exactly what their plans were in November," said Joanne Jenny, a spokeswoman for Allegheny County Airport, which runs Pittsburgh's airport. "They were saying they were going to reduce from a hub to a focus city."

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Don't you just love that booming economy?

[Lauren2882]

1. Not good for Pittsburgh :(

I hate to keep seeing my hometown sh*t on all the time.. we get the short end of every stick.. which makes it a place that I am less likely to move back to someday.

Pittsburgh's got one of the greatest airports in the country though: clean, easy to navigate, just enough stores and restaurants. Seems like a good town to locate a hub city to me. :P

[Lauren2882]

2. I also love..

how the change will go into effect right *after* the Nov election. Bush bailout of airlines... PA's a swing state...

[LastDemocratInSC]

3. Nature abhors a vacuum - an airline with a better business model ...

... will step in to acquire those valuable landing slots. The same thing is likely to happen in Charlotte, which is another of US Airways' major hubs. Southwest Airlines is salivating at the thought of getting into Charlotte.

All of this troubles me because the airline industry is akin to a canary in a mine. Yes, there are low-cost airlines whose business models are more appropriate for today's economy, and I fly on them all the time and like them, but they are feasting on the debris of a great economy gone belly-up. Talk about mixed feelings.

[mn9driver]

6. No vacuum there.

PIT is a pretty quiet place these days. The airport is capable of handling a lot more traffic, but the requisite demand for a hub, absent a "network carrier" doesn't seem to be there. Kansas City (MCI) and Saint Louis (STL) are two other good examples of what happens when a hub gets orphaned by its "network carrier". Huge, empty, ghost airports.

[osaMABUSh]

4. US Air is basically the only airline in Pgh

I believe they have at least 75% of the slots. In the long run this may open up some competition but in the short it'll probably lead to layoffs.

[The Zanti Regent]

5. How many more times must my home town be screwed?

Pittsburgh was sentenced to death in 1982 when the steel mills were closed. It's been dying ever since and what is so heartbreaking are the mill towns that ring the city and are just nothing more than glorified cemeteries.

Now SHAFTA is fucking the rest of the country 20 years later. You are all getting screwed the way Pittsburgh was.

Will you fight back?

[MikeG]

7. Good riddance. Others will take their place, They're mopes.

GO STILLERS!!!