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A mostly empty parking lot at the Pittsburgh International Airport as seen April 8.
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A silver lining? Cargo may offer battered Pittsburgh International Airport some hope

Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette

A silver lining? Cargo may offer battered Pittsburgh International Airport some hope

In normal times, nobody would be very happy about a 5% decline in cargo traffic at Pittsburgh International Airport. But these are anything but normal times.

As flights have plummeted and travelers have all but disappeared because of the COVID-19 pandemic, cargo has emerged as a bit of a bright spot at the Findlay airport.

At a time when virtually every commercial airline is slashing flights because of the lack of demand for travel, UPS and FedEx have reached out to inquire about possibly adding service, said Christina Cassotis, CEO of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, which operates Pittsburgh International Airport.

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“We’re aware that we could be seeing more activity from both of them,” she said.

A mostly empty parking lot at the Pittsburgh International Airport photographed on Wednesday, April 8, 2020.
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The reason is simple enough: E-commerce has seen a huge surge in demand as millions of people sheltering at home shop for goods and services online.

Ms. Cassotis said the 5% drop in cargo during the first quarter compared to the same period last year reflects a decision by Qatar Airways to suspend its twice-weekly cargo flights going back to mid December. 

Were it not for that, the numbers likely would have been better.

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In recent years, the authority has made a more focused effort to increase cargo traffic at the airport, starting with the Qatar flight, which was backed by up to $2.2 million in incentives over two years.

“This was always part of the intention to position the airport for increased cargo flights and logistics,” Ms. Cassotis said.

The slight quarterly decline in cargo is a cause for celebration compared to passenger traffic, which fell a whopping 52% in March, compared to the same month last year. April, Ms. Cassotis stressed, is going to be even worse.

“I’d loved to have half the passengers we used to have,” she said wistfully.

A mostly empty parking lot at Pittsburgh International Airport on Wednesday.
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In recent weeks, the number of daily travelers, usually around 13,000, has fallen to several hundred. Because of the lack of demand, 84% of the airport’s shops and restaurants have closed and the airport has closed one of the concourses in the airside building, where people get on and off planes. It also has shut down one of the two trams that run between the landside and airside buildings.

“It’s grim,” Ms. Cassotis told airport authority board members at their meeting Friday.

The airport has received a $36 million federal grant to help cover shortfalls in a budget dependent on airlines, concessions, parking, rental cars, and passengers for its revenues. But Ms. Cassotis said that won’t be enough.

“This is not going to close our gap. We’re going to lose a lot more than that,” she said.

Also on Friday, the authority’s board cleared the way for Indianapolis-based Scannell Properties to lease 48 acres of land at the airport’s Northfield site in Findlay.

Scannell is proposing to build just over 700,000 square feet of light industrial space in up to four buildings on the property, said Zachary Zweifler, development associate. The company would like to break ground on the first building later this year, if possible, depending on the situation with the coronavirus, he said. Terms of the 15-year lease are still being negotiated.

On its website, Scannell describes itself as a real estate development and investment company that focuses on build-to-suit and speculative projects throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Scannell is planning to build the Northfield buildings on spec, meaning without a signed tenant.

Mr. Zweifler said Scannell liked the access the site provides to major interstates and, of course, the airport.

“This is the best option out there,” he said.

Scannell has developed buildings for clients like FedEx, Best Buy and GE.

It is not the only one developing on the Northfield site. At the northern end, biotech startup Krystal Biotech Inc. is building a 100,000-square-foot manufacturing center where gene therapy medicines will be made.

Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com, or 412-263-1262.

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First Published: April 18, 2020, 12:00 p.m.

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A mostly empty parking lot at the Pittsburgh International Airport as seen April 8.  (Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette)
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