According to the USA Today study, U.S. and foreign airlines are
offering 386 nonstop flights a day to Europe, 21 percent more than they
did three years ago. And the number of flights has gone up despite the
fact that the average one-way fare on a transatlantic flight, $549, is
44 percent higher than it was in 2003.
Kent George, executive director of the Allegheny County Airport Authority,
described the quest to restore nonstop transatlantic service as his
"No. 1 priority" and said the airport has been negotiating for 18
months with several carriers, though he would not identify them.
"We're continuing to work on that, but it's not going to happen
overnight. After all, it took us five years to bring Southwest Airlines
here and 3½ to get JetBlue. And it's going to be very, very difficult
to get international service in a community of this size without
feeding traffic (from elsewhere)," George said.
There is less so-called feeding traffic than ever before at Pittsburgh.
While the majority of the airport's passengers had stopped briefly in
Pittsburgh on connector flights when the airport was a US Airways hub,
today 60 percent of its passengers are either departing from Pittsburgh
or heading here, and that level is increasing.
"We have to depend on our market, and that may only be able to support
international flights seven or eight months out of the year," George
said, noting demand typically isn't great between November and
February, when there is less vacation travel.
For business travelers, though, there is year-round demand.
"On any given day, there are 300 passengers who fly from Pittsburgh to
destinations in Europe," said Ken Zapinski, a senior vice president
with the Allegheny Conference on Community Development who also heads
the Regional Air Service Partnership, which represents dozens of
companies in the region and has made its top priority restoring
transatlantic service out of Pittsburgh.
"We think transatlantic service can be profitable for a carrier that's willing to take a risk," Zapinski added.
To read more about the Allegheny County Airport Authority's work to bring transatlantic flights to Pittsburgh, go
here.