Hello, everyone!
As a CP who's flown out of PIT a lot since 2003, I can lay a large part of the blame (or credit, I guess, if you hate PIT) at the feet of Allegheny County. True, the post-9/11 downturn in revenue at the AirMall shops made it hard to keep paying for the "new" airport, but the people on the Airport Authority Board did very little to try and keep US Airways in Pittsburgh. I guess the job losses have been hashed through again and again on this and other forums, but the pre-merger corporate people were certainly not alone in their responsibility for trashing what (I thought was) a good hub. The county itself bears a huge burden of guilt on this one, IMHO, for their rather pricey terms on the lease renewals. (Correct me, please, if I'm wrong.)