There aren’t many people flying these days, but at least one runway at Pittsburgh International Airport is crowded — with parked jets.
In fact, so many unneeded planes — 96, as of Monday — have touched down at Pittsburgh International to shelter in place, the airport has closed one of its four runways to accommodate them.
Planes are flying in from Phoenix, Los Angeles and other cities for an indefinite layover at the Findlay airport, as airlines slash flights and struggle to stay afloat as the COVID-19 pandemic cripples the country.
Nearly all of the jets parked at Pittsburgh International are owned by American Airlines, one of the region’s largest carriers, or by Republic Airways.
They include Airbus A319, A320, A321 and the wide-body A330 planes and the Embraer E-190 regional jets operated by American — 88 planes in all, according to the airline — and the Embraer E-170s used by Republic.
Bob Kerlik, a spokesman for the Allegheny County Airport Authority, which runs Pittsburgh International, said a few Delta Air Lines jets are parked there as well.
Planes began arriving at the airport last week and multiplied as airlines cut more and more service.
A former hub for US Airways, now part of American, the airport has room to spare. It can handle as many as 140 jets, Mr. Kerlik said.
“First and foremost, we want to give the airlines a way to respond to this drop in travel demand. We want to give them a place that they can easily and efficiently consolidate their aircraft parking,” added Bryan Dietz, vice president of air service development, in a statement.
At this point, the number of jets parked on runway 10 Center/28 Center and on airport taxiways, aprons and de-icing pads may rival those docked at airport gates awaiting passengers.
Over the past few weeks, the number of daily flights from Pittsburgh has plummeted, from an average of about 180 to about 110 scheduled for April, although some of those could be canceled.
Pittsburgh became a favored destination for American planes because the airline still operates a maintenance base here, a holdover from the US Airways days.
The airline also is parking planes at other maintenance bases in Tulsa and Dallas.
Most of the jets idled at the airport are used for domestic flights. However, the A330, which seats nearly 300, also handles international travel, which American has cut by 75% through May 6.
The airport is charging a fee to the airlines to park their planes, but authority CEO Christina Cassotis has said it is not significant and that the revenue won’t come close to “offsetting what we’re expecting to be down from planes not landing here and passengers not being here.”
Once the jets are parked, they are secured on the airfield until they are ready to return to serve. The airport worked with the Federal Aviation Administration to develop a plan to host the jets.
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.
First Published: March 31, 2020, 10:30 a.m.
