Allegheny Airport sees lift despite COVID-19
One airport is picking up a bit of a tailwind these days despite COVID-19. And it’s right in West Mifflin.
While its much larger sibling in Findlay continues to be battered by the pandemic, Allegheny County Airport is emerging as a bright spot, thanks in part to private business travel.
In June, the county airport posted an 11.7% gain in air taxi operations compared to the same month last year. Air taxi operations include any travel for hire, such as helicopters, corporate jets and private charters.
The increase marks a rare feat these days for airports, which have seen travel all but evaporate during the coronavirus crisis.
Take Pittsburgh International, for instance, where traffic plunged another 78.2% in June.
Christina Cassotis, CEO of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, attributed the gains in the West Mifflin airport to trends involving business travel during the pandemic.
“This is likely due to what industry experts are reporting as a change in behavior, which is that there is a demographic that is actually shifting from flying commercial to flying private aviation,” she said. “We don’t know how long that will last. It could be structural, or it could just be the result of the pandemic.”
Year to date through June, air taxi operations at the county airport are down 15.5%. But that is much better than national trends, which show such operations are off by 28%.
Overall traffic at the county airport dropped by only 0.1% in
June, compared to 21.6% in May and 40.6% in April.
Ms. Cassotis said the June numbers are far better than those at the two largest general aviation airports in the country in New York and Los Angeles, which were down by as much as 70% and 20%, respectively.
“We’re really very happy to see that our second-quarter traffic is actually trending in the right direction. This is really good news,” she said.
She lauded the county airport’s “diversification strategy” in explaining why it seems to be faring better than other general aviation airports and even much larger commercial ones.
Ms. Cassotis noted the West Mifflin facility is a base for medical helicopter flights, private planes and pilots, and the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics.
In addition, “We’re seeing an increase in leisure travel on business jets, and that’s definitely contributing to what we consider to be a lower-than-expected decrease,” she said.
She could only wish the numbers were as good at Pittsburgh International, although they are trending in the right direction. Although total traffic fell by 78.2% in June, that’s far better than May and April, when it tumbled 89.4% and 96%, respectively.
“So we are making progress, but, again, we have a long way to go,” Ms. Cassotis said.
Available seats offered by the airlines in Pittsburgh fell 66.3% in June. That’s a tough pill to swallow, particularly because the airport had projected before the pandemic hit that available seats would climb by 3% in June.
“This is the result of the airlines responding to the lack of demand,” Ms. Cassotis said.
Still, in terms of seats, Pittsburgh International is doing better than some peer markets, including Raleigh, N.C. (down 79%); Cleveland (down 71%); and Cincinnati (down 70%), she noted.
Year to date through June, Pittsburgh International passenger traffic is down 56%.
The little traffic that is rebounding there is on the leisure side.
That’s borne out by the fact Allegiant Air jumped ahead of Delta and United in June to become the airport’s third top carrier behind Southwest and American.
“Leisure is really driving the demand right now,” Ms. Cassotis said.
She expects airlines specializing in leisure travel to fuel the airport’s comeback in the months ahead.
Also Friday, the airport authority board approved a ground lease with the Buncher Company for 2.7 acres of land as part of Neighborhood 91, the proposed hub for additive manufacturing being built just west of the midfield terminal.
Buncher will be constructing a building on the land. In a separate agreement approved by the board, Buncher will be doing some infrastructure work at the 195-acre site.