American to end nonstop Boston flights
American Airlines is ending its service to Boston in December, the latest cutback at Pittsburgh International Airport by the carrier that includes the former US Airways.
At the same time, another European carrier — Aer Lingus — may be ready to take a chance on the Steel City.
American’s last flights from Pittsburgh to Boston will be Dec. 18. It now flies three times daily to Boston Sunday-Friday and once on Saturday. With the end of the service, it will be conceding the market to competitors JetBlue and Delta, both of
which operate the route.
It marks the latest cutback at Pittsburgh International by American, which eliminated its Los Angeles nonstop last year.
Christina Cassotis, Allegheny County Airport Authority CEO, also has bemoaned reductions in frequency to other markets such as Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas and Washington, D.C., in past years.
Nichelle Tait, an American spokeswoman, said the Boston flights just weren’t generating enough traffic.
“It wasn’t performing well so we had to make the tough decision to end service,” she said.
Ms. Tait noted that American still flies from Pittsburgh to Miami, Charlotte, Washington D.C., DallasFort Worth, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Phoenix and Raleigh. It also has service to Cancun, Mexico, on Saturdays.
She said any reductions are related to supply and demand.
“We’re still committed to serving Pittsburgh,” Ms. Tait said.
American ranks as the second-biggest airline at Pittsburgh behind Southwest in terms of passengers. Through June, Southwest carried 27 percent of all travelers, compared with 25 percent for American.
But of the major airlines, American had the secondlowest percentage change in terms of passengers — an increase of 1.6 percent — behind Frontier, which lost 72.3 percent after dramatically scaling back its service in Pittsburgh.
American remained flat in terms of passenger volume in June compared with the same month in 2017.
The airline includes the former US Airways, which had its hub in Pittsburgh for years before shutting it down in 2004.
Boston still is served nonstop from Pittsburgh by JetBlue, with six daily flights Sunday-Friday and five on Saturday, and Delta, with three daily Sunday-Friday and one on Saturday.
While the Steel City is losing some domestic service, it appears to be in the running for another European flight only two weeks after landing British Airways to fly to London.
Pittsburgh is said to be one of three finalists for an Aer Lingus nonstop from Dublin, according to the Irish Times.
The newspaper reported last week that the airline planned to cut a shortlist of three possible North American destinations to a final two in the coming weeks.
While Aer Lingus CEO Stephen Kavanagh declined to name the cities, the Irish Times cited sources who suggested that Pittsburgh and Montreal “could feature” on the list, along with a possible Midwestdestination.
Aer Lingus plans to start flying to the selected destinations next July.
The airport authority, which operates Pittsburgh International, declined comment Monday.
In January, Ms. Cassotis said a Dublin flight was a “very serious contender” and that Aer Lingus was one of the airlines the airport was talking to about possible transatlantic service.