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PIT Subsidies
I came across a new planned BA LHR-PIT announcement and immediately suspected some sort of subsidy. Alas,
https://triblive.com/local/allegheny...arting-april-2 The answer is $1.5m/year for 2 years! Not to be outdone, PIT is subsidizing $910,000 for 2 charter roundtrip flights to PVG https://www.usatoday.com/story/trave...ent/837732002/ I get that they want to open up new destinations, but I think this is way out of line. As an example, if their only sustainable PIT-LAX routes are flown by WN and (gulp!) NK, despite 4 or 5 airlines having a hub at LAX, this should tell you the realities of PIT. (Don't get me wrong, I love PIT as a former resident and frequent user, but this just doesn't seem right). |
It's a mixed bag in my opinion. A subsidized or scaled-down reduction in landing fees can make a route desirable or sustainable but outright payments go right to the airline but come from a state fund instead of a locality. PIT now has WOW, BA & Condor benefitting from this kind of practice. The QR Cargo payment is even odder to me.
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Originally Posted by Yoshi212
(Post 30025783)
The QR Cargo payment is even odder to me.
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The cart may come before the horse in transportation. If PIT and its surrounding region are developing UK business, the chance of growing that business means having air service and thus subsidizing it so that business will follow.
It also takes new routes time to turn the corner. People who would never think of driving to PIT to fly to LON will do so once the service is established and their old habits die off. |
It's like that with BWI, too. The state guarantees nearly $6 million each year BA doesn't hit its average return at 19 other nonstop markets. Even if it's a dime short, the state owes the full amount--that's new as of the most recent deal, and airport and state officials see the business activity and stature of the London route as worth it.
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PIT was a much busier airport when I flew there last month, than when I first flew there in 2014. I am sure it is all due to the new DL nonstop from SLC, which I came in on. :D |
Oh, about PIT-LAX, I forgot that WN is even cutting that flight, leaving them with only NK!
Skipping the West Coast? Southwest pulling back on service from Pittsburgh 'to match customer demand' | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette This is not some leisure destination, but a place with the most O/D in the Western US. |
More PIT news regarding subsidies (or the failure of):
https://triblive.com/local/allegheny...x-lien-lawsuit The authority has sued OneJet for flying to only two cities instead of the 10 it promised when it received a $1 million incentive to operate out of Pittsburgh International Airport. The lawsuit argues the carrier owes the authority $763,000. The authority paid the carrier $1 million in state gambling tax revenue in June 2016 in exchange for the carrier to launch 10 routes. At the time, it was the largest incentive the airport had ever given an airline. OneJet was required to fly each new route five days a week for at least five years, the lawsuit said. Two weeks ago, the carrier only flew to two cities from Pittsburgh — Indianapolis and Hartford, Conn. Delta to end its nonstop flight to Paris after 10-year run | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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