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Qatar Airways Cargo's Boeing 777 on the tarmac at Pittsburgh International Airport on Oct. 12, 2017. While passenger traffic was down 67.5% in January with the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, air cargo jumped by 10.7%.
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Cargo surges amid passenger declines at Pittsburgh International Airport

Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette

Cargo surges amid passenger declines at Pittsburgh International Airport

Cargo is the one silver lining in an otherwise dismal start to the new year for Pittsburgh International Airport.

While passenger traffic was down 67.5% in January with the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, air cargo jumped by 10.7%.

Christina Cassotis, CEO of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, which operates Pittsburgh International, attributed the increase to the return of a Qatar Airways cargo flight and an expansion of service by FedEx.

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E-commerce is one segment that has thrived during the pandemic, as many people have turned to online shopping amid gathering restrictions. Ms. Cassotis suspected that may have been at work in the airport surge.

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“We definitely have seen an uptick in online ordering and express shipments,” she said. “My guess is that [the increase] has to do with the pandemic.”

Qatar returned to Pittsburgh with a weekly cargo flight in December. It is planning to operate the service for at least six months.

The airline had suspended twice-weekly flights in December 2019 after receiving at least $1.48 million in subsidies from the authority for cargo hauls that started in October 2017.

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Qatar is not receiving any money from the authority for the current flight.

The service is a collaboration between the authority, freight forwarders Unique Logistics International and Apex Logistics International, and Expo Group in Bangladesh.

FedEx, meanwhile, has increased its total operations at Pittsburgh International by 30%, Ms. Cassotis said.

That includes cargo service to Newark, N.J., and additional flights to Indianapolis and Memphis, Tenn., Ms. Cassotis said.

Qatar Airways Cargo's Boeing 777 sits on the tarmac near the Cargo Area at Pittsburgh International Airport in Moon for their first delivery to the airport on October 12, 2017.
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During its meeting Friday, the airport authority board also authorized a one-year license agreement with Amazon.com Services Inc. to lease about 4.5 acres of property between the Cargo A building and MP Air Hangar.

Amazon uses the property to park delivery vehicles. The authority will receive $135,000 in revenue as part of the agreement.

Asked about the possibility of the airport becoming a landing spot for some of Amazon’s Prime Air jets, Ms. Cassotis was noncommittal.

“We would be very happy to have them,” she noted, while refusing to say whether the authority was in talks with the e-commerce giant.

Amazon officials could not be reached for comment.

Cargo was the only thing to cheer about at the airport in January.

Passenger traffic was down 67.5% for the month compared to January 2020. That’s slightly better than December, when traffic plunged 70.4% compared to the same month in 2019.

“It was a little less awful than December. Let’s put it that way,” Ms. Cassotis said of the January numbers.

She chalked up the declines to the ongoing challenges related to the pandemic. “We know this is a demand problem, not a supply problem,” she said.

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

First Published: February 19, 2021, 8:44 p.m.

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Qatar Airways Cargo's Boeing 777 on the tarmac at Pittsburgh International Airport on Oct. 12, 2017. While passenger traffic was down 67.5% in January with the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, air cargo jumped by 10.7%.  (Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette)
Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette
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