US Airways plans to eliminate more than 20 daily flights out of Pittsburgh this summer. US Airways has been Pittsburgh’s dominant carrier for many years. It downgraded Pittsburgh’s hub status after Southwest went into its fortress hub at Philadelphia.
The airline will cancel service to:
- Baltimore
- Altoona
- Seattle
- San Diego.
It will reduce to one flight from three service to:
- Albany
- Chicago O’Hare
- Erie
- Indianapolis from four to two
- Newark from four to one
- LaGuardia from six to five on weekends only
- Philadelphia from ten to eight
- Providence from four to two
- Syracuse from two to one
- Toronto from three to two
A US Airways spokesman said planes on these routes “could better serve a larger number of customers elsewhere.” US Airways once had 510 out of 600 daily departures out of Pittsburgh, with 90 percent of air traffic. With the reduction, US Airways will operate 127 daily departures out of Pittsburgh with a total of 261 departures a day. Southwest, now the Number 2 carrier, carries 12 percent of the traffic, as opposed to US Airways 47 percent.
Pittsburgh has potential for alternative growth. With Southwest operating flights to the airport, and Jetblue offering service to New York and Boston…low cost carriers may find reason to offer additional service.