Flights to be trimmed 8 percent to 9 percent

Flights out of Pittsburgh International Airport will be reduced by 8 percent to 9 percent after Labor Day as airlines struggle to counter soaring fuel costs, airport officials said Wednesday.

That means about 244 fewer flights locally, said Brad Penrod, executive director of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, which runs Pittsburgh International in Findlay.

Service to most destinations will be less frequent, and all of US Airways' direct flights to Harrisburg will be eliminated as airlines trim operating costs.

US Airways as of Oct. 1 will reduce flights to Richmond from two to one daily, and to St. Louis from three to two, said spokesman Morgan Durrant. The airline will add one additional flight each to Newark, Charlotte and Boston, and add three additional flights to New York's LaGuardia Airport. Service to other destinations, including Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and three Florida cities will remain unchanged.

"All of these adjustments are due to astronomical fuel prices," Durrant said. "We will pay $2 billion more for fuel in 2008 than we did in 2007."

Penrod said the airport authority has made its calculations based on airlines announcements in the past few weeks about their cuts in capacity. That will translate into reductions of revenue based on landed weight, but Penrod said the de-hubbing of Pittsburgh by US Airways and its two bankruptcies has taught the authority how to cope with downturns.

The authority has in recent years taken over such common-area operations as flight information displays, de-icing and jetway maintenance, which used to be the province of airlines. New efforts to help carriers become more efficient could include such ground services as baggage handling and even pushing back planes.

The authority also has over the past several months discussed with the state and some airline officials a pilot program to begin large twin-engine jet service between Pittsburgh and such towns as Harrisburg, Dubois, Latrobe and Erie. An airline would operate the flights, while individual airports could provide on-ground service.

"We don't have the airlines' fuel bills, but we're partners," Penrod said. "Their well-being is our well-being. We want them to be profitable."

Flights to be cut at Pittsburgh International Airport

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