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http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review...n/s_163497.html
US Airways blinks
Wednesday, November 5, 2003
US Airways certainly has been doing a lot of blinking lately. It appears that reality has gotten in its eyes.
Blink the first came last month when the airline -- which abrogated its Pittsburgh International Airport lease and threatened to pull its hub unless taxpayers picked up a large share of the airport debt it agreed to pay a decade ago -- agreed to maintain that hub through Labor Day 2004.
Blink the second came Friday when the airline asked Allegheny County officials to allow it to operate through Oct. 3, 2004, under the terms of the lease it rejected. In return, it would guarantee, roughly, current employment and flight levels. (If the county Airport Authority agrees to extend lease terms, a federal bankruptcy judge will have final say.)
Translation: US Airways has nowhere to go. And, no longer a "signatory" airline, it faced 20 percent higher costs to stay. Turns out the lease-busting, extortion-minded airline wasn't as clever as it thought it was.
Indeed, it would be tempting for county officials to let US Airways twist in the wind a bit. After all, the momentum has shifted to the public's advantage, what with all this blinking and competing airlines now interested in Greater Pittsburgh.
But we would recommend, as a matter of good faith, that county officials agree to US Airways' request. Perhaps that good faith will be contagious
US Airways blinks
Wednesday, November 5, 2003
US Airways certainly has been doing a lot of blinking lately. It appears that reality has gotten in its eyes.
Blink the first came last month when the airline -- which abrogated its Pittsburgh International Airport lease and threatened to pull its hub unless taxpayers picked up a large share of the airport debt it agreed to pay a decade ago -- agreed to maintain that hub through Labor Day 2004.
Blink the second came Friday when the airline asked Allegheny County officials to allow it to operate through Oct. 3, 2004, under the terms of the lease it rejected. In return, it would guarantee, roughly, current employment and flight levels. (If the county Airport Authority agrees to extend lease terms, a federal bankruptcy judge will have final say.)
Translation: US Airways has nowhere to go. And, no longer a "signatory" airline, it faced 20 percent higher costs to stay. Turns out the lease-busting, extortion-minded airline wasn't as clever as it thought it was.
Indeed, it would be tempting for county officials to let US Airways twist in the wind a bit. After all, the momentum has shifted to the public's advantage, what with all this blinking and competing airlines now interested in Greater Pittsburgh.
But we would recommend, as a matter of good faith, that county officials agree to US Airways' request. Perhaps that good faith will be contagious
