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Pittsburgh gets more SW is JetBlue next?

PghUSA

By PghUSA
in Pittsburgh

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  • 2 months later...
tooluther Whistle-Stop

tooluther

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Independence will shut down on Thursday. That will cost us low fare service to the DC area again. While that is a bummer, there are three possible good things that could come out of it...

1. Jet Blue starts us service to Dulles in place of Indy (possible also flying to JFK and Boston Logan)

2. Southwest starts service to BWI to compensate (they may be thinking about doing this already)

3. Airtran starts service to DCA or BWI (possible also to NY LaGuardia)

I'd really like to see Airtran ramp up service again, especialy to New York and DC...the flip side of all three situations as that no one fills the gap and so there is no service other than US Air to BWI and DCA and United Express to IAD :(

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PghUSA Town

PghUSA

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Tooluther, I saw that today too, though FlyI didn't have a big footprint in Pittsburgh, they were definitely one of the reasons the airport felt confident about rebounding from USAir's doublespeak. From what I have heard they were pretty successful out of Pgh and wildy successful out of Dulles, just that no venture capitalists were willing to make a buck on an airline in this environment so they literally ran out of growth funds, and in any biz especially the airlines if you are not growing you are dying.

I agree T that SWA and Airtran possibly even USAirways would be foolish not to take some of their routes and then some. The JetBlue thing continues to confound me so I've resolved to let them come to us on their hands and knees begging in a year or so (kind of like that superhot chick that kept putting me off for the prom lol . . . then again that didn't quite work the way I wanted).

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  • 2 months later...
tooluther Whistle-Stop

tooluther

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New talk on airliners.net is that if PIT is getting Jet blue service its going to be announced Friday. Chat is service to JFK and Boston...I have mixed feelings on that, I'd rather Airtran be flying to Boston from here, but I'll take what we get (if we get it)

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PghUSA Town

PghUSA

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This goes to my "can't ignore us anymore" theory, that's why I had hoped we got the DNC in '04, with the ASG coming up and the lesser traveled BassMaster, Pittsburgh is becoming the "it" destination for reservation call centers at all airlines. With the world-class airport, and now with it becoming more affordable with fees etc. airlines really have no excuse anymore.

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urbanophile Whistle-Stop

urbanophile

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New talk on airliners.net is that if PIT is getting Jet blue service its going to be announced Friday. Chat is service to JFK and Boston...I have mixed feelings on that, I'd rather Airtran be flying to Boston from here, but I'll take what we get (if we get it)

Another interesting topic on that forum is how, were it not for the 1981 Air Traffic Controller's strike, PIT could have been the hub for both TWA and US Airways. TWA was PIT's primary airline before US Airways took over in the 80's and it did have a focus city operation at PIT and even had one-stop flights from PIT to London (via Philadelphia).

It would be interesting for PIT to be a 2-airline hub. Of course, now with TWA gone, the end result would have been the same.

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balistpgh Unincorporated Area

balistpgh

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While officials haven't exactly giving up on becoming a hub for another airline, the big push now is to be the main cog of import/export airline shipping. The airport is significantly underused and also has the potential for additional development. Plus with the location of Pittsburgh so close to other major cities, it is an ideal spot. There has been a lot of interest and I believe that will happen rather than the hub status. In fact, I believe this would be better because shipping would be more stable than commuter traffic and will result in a plethora of jobs as well. Just my 2 cents.

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noobie Unincorporated Area

noobie

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JetBlue to fly out of Pittsburgh to N.Y., Boston

Growing carrier to bring lower fares to Pittsburgh

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06076/671812.stm

"Friday, March 17, 2006

By Dan Fitzpatrick and Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Discount carrier JetBlue Airways is arriving in Pittsburgh this summer, with six daily flights to Boston and New York starting as low as $64 each way"

Sweet, eh? :thumbsup:

Mod note: Just please don't anger the PG by quoting entire articles ;)

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tooluther Whistle-Stop

tooluther

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So now we have almost all our bases covered. I think the airport authority has at least four more short term goals as far as flights/airlines.

1. Landing Frontier (Spirit would be a bonus) to increase competition flying out west.

2. AirTran Service to Dallas

3. Southwest/Airtran service to Baltimore (they both have mini-hubs there)

4. The big one, that's been talked about to death...Restart of flights to Europe

It'd be nice to have American rather than all American Eagle also, I' guess that's not anything the authority can work on though.

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PghUSA Town

PghUSA

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From the article quoting JoAnn Jenny the Airport spokesperson:

"We had been expecting them to start back any time now, because this is the beginning of the golf season down there," said Jenny, adding that Pittsburgh flights generally were full."

I think this is more of a Hooters loss then it is one for PIT, it was fun to have them here and be one of their destinations, but I don't think HA will last much longer with fuel and maintenance costs rising, the Newark to MRYT route is not enough to sustain a whole airline. The key here is while the were at PIT, they had no problem booking seats. This bodes very well for the future of the airport, JetBlue's service in their place more then makes up for the 1 or 2 flights from Hooters.

But man there goes my bachelor party plans!!!! :P

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  • 2 weeks later...
tooluther Whistle-Stop

tooluther

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As predicted, Hooters Air called it quits for good today. So its nice to know it wasn't just a PIT thing. Given that Pittsburgh sounds like it was one of their fuller routes, maybe this will actualy be a good thing. Spirit is big on flying to resort cities, and they have a decent presence in Myrtle Beach...so maybe this will be a way to get them into the market.

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