With Space To Spare, Pittsburgh International Draws Corporate Jet Carrier

Pittsburgh International Airport’s status as a former hub facility with space to spare helped draw OneJet, a new corporate jet carrier seeking to gain a foothold inside Concourse D.

“That’s one of the reasons Pittsburgh is one of the top five cities we put in place early on,” said CEO Matthew Maguire. “We see a bigger vision for it beyond the user service.”

OneJet, catering to business travelers on seven-seat Hawker 400s, launched between Milwaukee and Indianapolis in April, and Pittsburgh this month. A fourth destination will be announced within two months. Down the road, OneJet plans to add crews and maintenance operations in Pittsburgh.

OneJet’s business model focuses on gate-to-gate travel between midsized cities, allowing direct flights to destinations that otherwise involve lengthy layovers. A trip to Indianapolis with a connection may take 4 ¹⁄₂ hours, compared with the about 60-minute service on OneJet

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/8416213-74/onejet-pittsburgh-service#ixzz3bGO3ekH3
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Officials Envision Reinvigorated Allegheny County Airport

The county airport authority wants West Mifflin’s Allegheny County Airport to be a destination — but not for commuter flights.

That sums up a meeting borough officials had Monday with new authority CEO Christina Cassotis that came 24 hours before a $1.5 million federal grant was announced for taxiway rehabilitation there.

“It was a positive meeting,” borough Manager Brian Kamauf said. “We discussed the history of the airport.”

It dates back to Pittsburgh and McKeesport’s window to the world between 1931 and 1952, when commercial service moved from West Mifflin to what then was Greater Pittsburgh Airport, now Pittsburgh International.

Read more: http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourmckeesport/yourmckeesportmore/8407018-74/airport-county-authority#ixzz3asqtZ8jy
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New Airports Chief Wants To Bring More Nonstop Flights To Pittsburgh

Christina Cassotis doesn’t see Pittsburgh International Airport becoming a hub again, but she does think there are opportunities to add more flights.

Ms. Cassotis, 50, most recently managing officer of the air services practice for ICF SH&E, a Boston-based aviation consultant, was introduced today as the new chief executive officer of the Allegheny County Airport Authority.

In her new job, she will be overseeing operations at Pittsburgh International in Findlay and the Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin.

But her main focus will be to bring more nonstop flights to Pittsburgh, a city that lost hundreds of flights and dozens of destinations when US Airways dropped its airport hub in 2004.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2014/12/16/New-Pittsburgh-airport-director-sees-opportunities-for-more-flights/stories/201412160190

Westmoreland County Airport Authority Seeks $5M For Arnold Palmer Growth

Speaking to Westmoreland County Airport Authority members on Tuesday, state Sen. Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, recalled an event during which she ran into a representative of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, who said the region doesn’t have room for two major airports.

“I told him, ‘Go ahead and close down,’ ” she said, laughing.

She and her chief of staff, Rob Ritson, attended a meeting at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity because the authority wrote her office a letter in October requesting $5 million as a line item in the state transportation budget.

The authority wants the funding to aid a large-scale, $7 million project to expand the terminal building and a $15 million project to strengthen and widen the runway, said board member Don Rossi, finance committee chairman.

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/westmoreland/7335287-74/airport-authority-million#ixzz3LYhY67Xl
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Pittsburgh Airport-Area Development Exceeding Expectations

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Allegheny County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It wasn’t much more than two years ago that Richard Donley committed to erecting a new building near Pittsburgh International Airport every 18 months.

At the time, he had no tenants and there was plenty of empty office space in the corridor.

Talk about pressure.

“We were nervous about it,” said Mr. Donley, president of developer Chaska Property Advisors of Cranberry.

Not so much anymore.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/business/2014/10/02/Pittsburgh-airport-area-development-exceeding-expectations/stories/201410020254

Airmall At Pittsburgh International Celebrates New Stores, Renovation

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Allegheny County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The place known for jet ways featured a runway Sept. 29.

The Airmall at Pittsburgh International Airport teamed with the Allegheny County Airport Authority for a special fashion event to mark the 15th anniversary of the airport authority and celebrate the completion of a $10 million renovation that created a new retail core in the center of the airport’s air-side terminal.

“Fly 2014: An Invitation to Fashion & Flair With Altitude” showcased the latest styles from the Airmall shops. The fashion show was the first event of this kind for the airport since it opened in 1992.

The show helped introduce new retail stores at the Airmall, including several international luxury brands. Italian-based Pinko recently opened its first U.S. store in the Airmall. Other stores include Furla, Lacoste, Armani Jeans, Hugo Boss, Tumi, Desigual, Collezioni — the Beauty Gallery and Bottega dei Sapori, an Italian specialty foods store.

Read more: http://triblive.com/lifestyles/fashion/6785773-74/airmall-airport-stores#ixzz3EprxD0v5
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Amazon.Com Distribution Center Planned For Pittsburgh’s West End

Locator map with the Fairywood neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania highlighted. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Amazon.com is coming to Pittsburgh.

The Seattle-based Internet giant has leased 250,000 square feet — equivalent to 4.3 football fields — in the former Roomful Express warehouse at 2250 Roswell Drive in the Fairywood section of the West End where it will establish a “sort center” that can deliver items within 24 hours of purchase.

The site is part of a new Amazon network of “sort centers,” where customer orders will be sorted by final destination and consolidated onto trucks for faster delivery, said Nina Lindsey, an Amazon spokeswoman. Amazon expects to increase its sort centers from 8 to more than 15 by the end of the year.

Pittsburgh’s sort center will serve the immediate area and nearby regions, she said, though she declined to specify the areas.

Read more: http://triblive.com/business/headlines/6499265-74/amazon-sort-center#ixzz38VZOOh6W
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PEOPLExpress Coming To Pittsburgh International Airport

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Allegheny County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – PEOPLExpress™, the iconic brand that made air travel affordable and accessible, returns to the skies June 30 with low-fare service from Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport to three cities: Boston, Newark, N.J., and Pittsburgh.

PEOPLExpress today announced its inaugural schedule, which includes four additional destinations: West Palm Beach, Fla. (July 15), Atlanta (Aug. 1), and St. Petersburg, Fla., and New Orleans (Aug. 28).

Vision Airlines d/b/a PEOPLExpress will operate scheduled flights from its base at Newport News with an initial fleet of three 737-400 aircraft, each with 150 seats – 138 with coach seating and 12 Living Large™ seats featuring more personal space for a fee. Both seating options will feature the same level of in-flight service.

Fares start as low as $76 each way.

Read more: https://www.flypex.com/

Closing Of Cleveland’s United Hub Could Benefit Pittsburgh International Airport

English: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) diagram for Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (IATA: CLE, ICAO: KCLE, FAA: CLE) in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Deutsch: Diagramm der US-Luftfahrtbehörde (Federal Aviation Administration, FAA) des Flughafens Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (IATA: CLE, ICAO: KCLE, FAA: CLE) in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

United Continental Holdings Inc.’s plan to ditch Cleveland as a hub provides a sliver of hope that Pittsburgh International Airport will scoop up passengers in nearby markets because of fewer options in the Ohio airport.

The decision puts Cleveland Hopkins International Airport in a position similar to the Pittsburgh airport when US Airways pulled out its hub a decade ago, slashing flights and jobs and reducing choices for fliers.

United’s announcement gives Pittsburgh an opportunity to gain passengers, said Brad Penrod, Allegheny County Airport Authority’s president and chief strategy officer. The airport has spent about $450,000 annually for five years to advertise in the Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown markets.

“Because of that advertising presence as these people seek to fill that void, we’d like to think a few more passengers out of that region will be Pittsburgh passengers,” Penrod said. “This will give us an opportunity to expand our marketplace area. It’s a positive for us.”

Read more: http://triblive.com/business/headlines/5527577-74/cleveland-pittsburgh-united#ixzz2sUABiUjf
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Pittsburgh International Struggling Despite The Region’s Robust Economy

FAA Airport Diagram of KPIT (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald describes Pittsburgh International Airport as an economic engine for Western Pennsylvania.

Yet while Fitzgerald points to improved employment, production and tourism as signs of the region’s economic vitality, growth at Pittsburgh International is stalled.

“I can’t explain it,” Fitzgerald said of the incongruity between the region’s surging economy and an airport that is scuffling in its core business of flying.

The airport was on pace through November to post its lowest annual passenger total since opening in 1992, according to the latest data. It recently learned that 600 airline jobs will vanish when the new American Airlines, created through a merger with US Airways, closes a flight operations center in Moon by next year. An unused section of one concourse in the $1 billion airport remains walled-off. The airport doesn’t have a CEO.

Read more: http://triblive.com/business/headlines/5501301-74/airport-pittsburgh-fitzgerald#ixzz2sHkI4LvV
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Startup Airline Has Its Eye On Pittsburgh

FAA Airport Diagram of KPIT (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Another startup airline trying to get off the ground has its sights set on Pittsburgh.

Jacksonville, Fla.-based City Link Air has talked to local officials about starting service from Pittsburgh International Airport, perhaps even seeing it as a potential focus city.

“They’re a startup looking for opportunities around the country. Like we talk to a lot of others, we talk to them,” said Bradley D. Penrod, president and chief strategy officer for the Allegheny County Airport Authority, which operates Pittsburgh International.

Mr. Penrod characterized the dealings with City Link as “an early discussion. They’ve approached us and they’ve given us a presentation,” he said.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/business/2013/11/12/Startup-airline-has-its-eye-on-Pittsburgh/stories/201311120077#ixzz2rzvFE9SE

US Airways To Close Moon Flight Operations Center, Affecting 600 Jobs

Map of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Built less than six years ago, a state-of-the-art flight operations control center in Moon will be closing and the work transferred to Texas, a casualty in the American Airlines-US Airways merger.

American Airlines announced Friday that it intends to consolidate flight operations in Dallas-Fort Worth over the next 18 months, costing the region a facility built specifically for the needs of US Airways and the 600 jobs that go with it.

“It’s pretty sad for the people that have been here for a long time,” said Danny Persuit, president of Transport Workers Union Local 545, which represents 164 employees at the center.

In a separate action, American also plans to transfer 53 mechanics out of Pittsburgh in what it said was an annual maintenance “rebalancing” unrelated to the merger.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2014/01/24/US-Airways-to-close-Moon-flight-operations-center/stories/201401240148#ixzz2rQyL9pLw

Shaler Father Shoots Family, Killing Daughter, Then Himself

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Allegheny County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Shortly after 3 a.m. today, Allegheny County 911 dispatchers received two calls about a shooting at a house in Shaler.

The first came from Charlene Edwards, 51, who was inside the brick ranch home when police said her husband, James Edwards, 52, walked room to room and started shooting.

The second came from a person who had been playing an online game with the couple’s 21-year-old son, James Edwards Jr., at the time and “heard the shots being fired and screams over the open video game connection,” according to a press release from Allegheny County homicide Lt. Andrew Schurman.

Within minutes, Shaler police were on the scene. Mr. Edwards and the couple’s daughter, Laurin Edwards, 19, died at the scene.  Ms. Edwards and Jimmy Edwards were taken to Allegheny General Hospital, where they remained in critical condition in the trauma unit this afternoon.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-north/shaler-father-shoots-family-killing-daughter-then-himself-700384/#ixzz2cjzMf8D8

Dick’s Sporting Goods To Expand Findlay Headquarters

Map of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Six weeks ago, one of the region’s newest corporate players — Chevron — announced agreements to acquire land for a potential regional headquarters. Now one of the more established local players — Dick’s Sporting Goods — is gearing up to expand its own corporate footprint.

Dick’s has reached an agreement with the Allegheny County Airport Authority to lease about 73 acres at the Northfield Commerce Park near Pittsburgh International Airport “for possible expansion of our corporate campus.”

The Findlay-based retailer’s deal is the latest example of an upsurge of interest in the Parkway West office market, which is benefiting from the need for space by energy companies involved in Marcellus Shale drilling.

But the Dick’s deal shows there are other factors at work as well.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/dicks-sporting-goods-to-expand-findlay-headquarters-691353/#ixzz2WCGzzLWy

Chevron Acquires Kmart Property In Moon Township For Possible Regional Headquarters

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Allegheny County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A discount superstore and a large vacant tract of land on a bluff overlooking the Parkway West could become the latest symbols of the region’s growing energy identity.

Global energy giant Chevron has reached agreements to acquire 61 acres of land in Moon, including a Kmart targeted for closing in July, as a potential site for a regional headquarters.

The San Ramon, Calif.-based company made the announcement Wednesday, only days after Sears Holdings Corp. confirmed it would be closing the Kmart. It made no mention at the time that the store was closing to make room for the first major global driller to build a regional campus.

In its statement, Chevron said it expects to close on the acquisitions in the next few months. No terms were disclosed. It said a decision on the use of the properties would be made later this year.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/chevron-acquires-kmart-property-in-moon-for-possible-regional-headquarters-685784/#ixzz2S9hTaqc3

US Airways Moon Township Center May Close

FAA Airport Diagram of KPIT (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

US Airways may jettison yet another Pittsburgh International Airport facility built specifically for its needs — one financed with the help of more than $16 million in public subsidies.

In a meeting last week with pilots, US Airways CEO Doug Parker said the carrier may close its state-of-the-art operations control center in Moon in “a couple years” as a result of its merger with bankrupt American Airlines.

If Mr. Parker’s prediction holds true, it would be the latest blow to a region that has seen US Airways slash more than 10,000 jobs and hundreds of flights over the past decade.  The airline also eliminated its Pittsburgh hub in 2004 — 12 years after the midfield terminal, built to its specifications, opened to support the airline’s growing needs. US Airways now has about 1,800 employees in the region.

Closing the operations control center would cost the region another 700 jobs.  The 72,000-square-foot building opened in November 2008 after Pennsylvania and Allegheny County officials outbid Charlotte, N.C., and Phoenix for the facility.  It combined a center in Findlay that US Airways had operated for 11 years and a smaller one in Phoenix, the result of the carrier’s 2005 merger with America West Airlines.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/us-airways-moon-center-may-close-680893/#ixzz2OfqwUXRr

Shale Boom Helps Restore Service From Wilkes-Barre/Scranton To Pittsburgh

Locator map of the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre Metropolitan Statistical Area in the northeastern part of the of . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The natural-gas drilling boom in the Marcellus Shale could be the key to ending a 6-year hiatus in air service between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport and the second-largest city in Pennsylvania.

A study examining the feasibility of providing commercial air service between Pittsburgh International Airport and 13 intrastate regional airports is halfway complete, said Jeffrey Hartz, a senior consultant at Mead & Hunt, the group hired to complete the report.

Funded in part by the Allegheny County Airport Authority, the study is designed to develop business plans – including possible costs and flight schedules – and market analyses for airport boards to present to interested airlines.

The study will assess the demand for adding connecting flights on a market-by-market basis and provide information, including how full an aircraft must be on a daily basis in order for an airline to profit.

Read more:  http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/shale-boom-helps-restore-service-from-avp-to-pittsburgh-1.1463055

PeoplExpress Airlines Trying To Reconstitute Itself, Eyes Pittsburgh International Airport

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Visitors to Pittsburgh International Airport can be forgiven for thinking, at certain times, that they wandered into an aviation ghost town. Where once US Airways alone operated more than 500 daily flights into Pittsburgh, the airport is now left with an average of 139 non-stops a day for all airlines.

There’s no question the airport needs more flights and the people who take them — and that makes the news that PeoplExpress is reviving an old brand and is eying a presence in Pittsburgh especially encouraging.

As Post-Gazette staff writer Mark Belko wrote last week, the airline’s plan is to concentrate on routes that have been largely abandoned by other airlines — such as West Palm Beach and Providence, R.I.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12052/1211501-192.stm#ixzz1nPy4zZL8

New Allegheny County Executive Lures Frontier Airlines Back To Pittsburgh International Airport

Editor’s note:  Mr. Fitzgerald replaces Don Onorato who unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Pennsylvania against Tom Corbett.

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald

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has spent the early days of his administration beating the bushes trying to bring more flights to Pittsburgh International Airport. On Friday, his hard work paid some early dividends.

Mr. Fitzgerald announced that Frontier Airlines will restart nonstop service to Milwaukee, with two flights a day beginning Thursday, May 17. Frontier will fly into its hub at Milwaukee General Mitchell International Airport.

The decision comes less than two months after Frontier ended the flights, leaving Pittsburgh without nonstop service to the Wisconsin market. The new flights can be booked at www.frontierairlines.com.

Milwaukee was one of the cities Mr. Fitzgerald — and others in the region — targeted for nonstop service after he took office in January. He has vowed to work to bring more service to Pittsburgh International, which has lost hundreds of flights over the last decade as a result of US Airways cutbacks.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12056/1212520-28.stm#ixzz1nPvAwlHQ