Dave Porks Pittsburgh?

[delldude]

what the county is dealing with here and now is the remainder of Tom Foersters crown jewel project.the terminal was the greatest achievement under Foerster, long planned for many many years.i was born in the 50''s and remember talk forever of the "midfield terminal project".finally comes to fruition in my mid years.looks like money was no object,at least until now.roddey is going to have to look into debt restructuring and maybe he can get some of that commitment for the "Frank Schifano Maintenence Facility"( FSMF) sprung loose to pay down the debt.what the heck,they stuck 2 new and possibly a future 3rd new sports facility up our yahoo''s...why can''t they bail this one out too?3 new sports facilitys and no one to buy tickets.
i''ll be suprised if U doesn''t get what they want....roddey knows he''s going to be hard pressed to get another or several majors in here knowing the high debt to be passed on to them.so dave pulls another Wabbit outa his hat.....gotta hand it to him...Shrewd Dude.

 

[a320av8r]

I agree DCA. PIT was a good place for a hub when they flew the mail and flew the old props. It is too close to the other cities to be an efficient jet market. Most of the cost of flying a jet occurs in the first hour. Most of the hub flying in PIT is less than one hour. PIT''s time has come, it''s a nice terminal but, it''s time to look to the future.

 

[PITbull]

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On 4/5/2003 10:01:19 AM delldude wrote:


i'll be suprised if U doesn't get what they want....roddey knows he's going to be hard pressed to get another or several majors in here knowing the high debt to be passed on to them.so dave pulls another Wabbit outa his hat.....gotta hand it to him...Shrewd Dude.


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Nope, sure don't feel that way about a lion who has traped a mouse.

What many airports need across the country is some "bail out" money, as well. Just as the airline industry has their "tin cup" out asking again for Congress to give them "bail out" money for the new excuse "war event", so should the airports. It's not all about PIT airport. other airports are also in need.

I will be on my "band Wagon" asking my congressmen to share some of that $3 Billion that is proposed to give to the "whiney" majors to the airports in need. If Bush wants PA's vote in his next election, he better fork over to PIT to help reduce our debt. We'll be getting Rendall to help us as well.

 

[delldude]

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On 4/5/2003 10:43:42 AM PITbull wrote:

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On 4/5/2003 10:01:19 AM delldude wrote:


i''ll be suprised if U doesn''t get what they want....roddey knows he''s going to be hard pressed to get another or several majors in here knowing the high debt to be passed on to them.so dave pulls another Wabbit outa his hat.....gotta hand it to him...Shrewd Dude.


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Nope, sure don''t feel that way about a lion who has traped a mouse.

well then what options does roddey really have?
1.committment to taxpayers
2.committment to area business dependent on U commerce in all aspects.
3.committment to debt obligations.
4.committment to ALL employed at PIT.
5.committment to flying public even though PIT may not be the best situ for O&D.relegating PIT to another erie or dayton is not good for future local business prospects.
i still feel dave has the upper hand here.no doubt about it.
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[RowUnderDCA]

Hey, I"m going to try to open up some interest in the "Airports" thread area. Not everything is about USAirways.

 

[RowUnderDCA]

well, just be careful of the strings that come with help from the state, well, anybody, really.

PHL got help building parking garages when the city didn''t have a dime to its name and have been paying for it ever since. Less now, but for awhile it was pretty bad.

 

[delldude]

PIT cost $7.50 per pax and CLT is $3.00 per pax (approx) anybody have any info on cost per pax at other airports and how we fair with others?

 

[a320av8r]

I read that PHL is under $4.00/psgr.

 

[airknocker]

Check this out. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/03096/172593.stm Not only does Dave want new leases, but an extra $122 million to upgrade PIT for RJs.

 

[wings396]

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On 4/5/2003 10:00:25 AM a320av8r wrote:

I agree DCA. PIT was a good place for a hub when they flew the mail and flew the old props. It is too close to the other cities to be an efficient jet market. Most of the cost of flying a jet occurs in the first hour. Most of the hub flying in PIT is less than one hour. PIT''s time has come, it''s a nice terminal but, it''s time to look to the future.


I must disagree with this statement. It was not that long ago that we were packing the people on to PIT. As the company reduced the markets out of PIT, the loads dwindled. We had 5 flights from my station to PIT, and 4 of the 5 had good load factors on a regular basis. Now we have less choices to offer the passengers and they are migrating to DL in CVG. I used to see 20+ connecting destinations on our afternoon flight, it later fell down to 7-8..no the RJ''s have taken over and there are even less. It seems to me that the demise of PIT has been self inflicted...

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[a320av8r]

We should get it. If WN, JetBlew, etc. said they would hub in PIT if they agreed to these things, do you think they''d agree? ABSOLUTELY. We want ours. PIT needs to get a grip. Finally a management with cajones, we asked for it...
Either they want a hub or not. We''ll see.

 

[a320av8r]

The problem was that there were many connections but no profit. You can connect all day long but if you can''t make money doing it, it doesn''t do any good. PIT is a high cost station, period.

 

[PITbull]

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On 4/6/2003 7:01:10 PM a320av8r wrote:

The problem was that there were many connections but no profit. You can connect all day long but if you can't make money doing it, it doesn't do any good. PIT is a high cost station, period.

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av8r,

Where do you get that U can not make a profit having Pittsburgh as a hub?

PIT maybe a higher cost station than CLT, and even PHL, but I don't believe there is no money to be made by flying in and out of PIT. I think Gov. Rendall has a trump card, by using PHL to create some "balance" on what they will negotiate with U. U needs PHL, so....there you go.

but you can not say there is NO profit to be made flying in and out of Pittsburgh. If that were the case, PIT as a hub would have been on U "chopping block" day one. What this mangement is attempting to do is take advantage of an opportunity to reduce costs substantially by threatening to pull the plug out of PIT. There is alot of debt that was serviced by U because the building of a new airport, way, way back in the early 90's, was due to much pressure by U's old mangement. Building a new airport was negotiated in exchange for the half a billion infusion by U, in which the County gave U the majority of all gates in Pittsburgh. Let's call a spade a spade.

In mangement's mind...."there is profit, AND THEN THERE'S PROFIT. And U is going for the gusto or nothing.

I believe the County officials have every intention in operating in "good faith" to get an agreement to keep U in Pittsburgh. I believe the County will also do everything it can to appease U and keep U in Pittsburgh. I don't believe this mangement is accustomed to "good faith" negotiations. It just may be that U may be operating "insediously" to get out of Pittsburgh all together and let the County take the "rap" for the pull out.

I also know that it is not the idea of this mangement to "pull out" of PIT if they do not get the ideal deal; its the majority of the new board that decides these matters.

 

[a320av8r]

That's the point. PIT IS on the chopping block. If it can make money by cutting costs so be it. If it costs $5.00 more per psgr to process through PIT than other stations, that's $5.00 per ticket you are loosing. Not in this current environment! I applaud Dave for cutting costs where he can. CLT has given to U with the new training center additions and hangar facitlities. Governor Easley is also willing to give more if it will build U's presence in NC. The state realizes what an asset U is to the region and the state. BofA is also based in CLT and is our credit card processor, handles the Dividend Miles cards, and is guaranteeing part of the $100m of the $1B loan.

 

[delldude]

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On 4/6/2003 7:33:35 PM PITbull wrote:

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On 4/6/2003 7:01:10 PM a320av8r wrote:

The problem was that there were many connections but no profit. You can connect all day long but if you can''t make money doing it, it doesn''t do any good. PIT is a high cost station, period.

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I also know that it is not the idea of this mangement to "pull out" of PIT if they do not get the ideal deal; its the majority of the new board that decides these matters.

pitbull: doc bronner and his band of merry pranksters have the controling votes on the board.

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