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The Allegheny County Airport Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021, in West Mifflin.
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Gaining altitude: Allegheny County Airport poised for busiest year in 17 years

Pam Panchak/Post-Gazette

Gaining altitude: Allegheny County Airport poised for busiest year in 17 years

One local airport is taxiing toward a sky-high year — and it’s not Pittsburgh International.

Instead, it’s the Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin, where traffic increased by 27.5% in the second quarter alone.

That puts the general aviation facility on pace to record its busiest year in nearly two decades, Christina Cassotis, CEO of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, told board members Thursday.

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“We’re hitting record numbers at AGC,” she said.

Passengers walk through the ticketing area at Pittsburgh International Airport on Wednesday, June 28, 2023.
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Ms. Cassotis attributed the surge in traffic to flight school training taking place at the airport, light aircraft and private flying and charter jet service.

At the current rate, the county airport is on track to handle more than 71,000 takeoffs and landings this year. That’s the most since at least 2006.

Of the airport’s 66 hangars, 62 are leased. Of the four empty ones, three are in the process of being rented and the other is being repaired, according to the airport authority.

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Ms. Cassotis said there is a waiting list of 25 people for two of the hangars.

“[We’re] very pleased that [the county airport] continues to be an important contributor to the economy and to the aviation story here in Pittsburgh,” she said.

Allegheny County Airport also proved to be one of the bright spots during the pandemic, as many business travelers spurned commercial flights in favor of private jets.

At Pittsburgh International, meanwhile, traffic continues to climb out of the pandemic doldrums but still has not reached pre-COVID 2019 levels.

 assengers walk thru the baggage claim area of the Pittsburgh international Airport in December.
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Brighter skies: Pittsburgh International Airport traffic nearing pre-pandemic levels

Traffic was up 16.2% in June, with about 852,700 travelers using the airport. That represents 94.7% of June 2019 totals.

Airline capacity, as measured by seats, jumped 15.9% in June. It’s now at 95.9% of 2019 levels.

However, that’s less than what the authority had been expecting. In March, Ms. Cassotis predicted that capacity would be 4% higher than pre-pandemic levels by July.

Nonetheless, the July traffic numbers are the airport’s highest since December 2019. She attributed the growth to new services, including a number of flights launched by Breeze Airways and United adding a second daily to San Francisco. American also is resuming seasonal service to Cancun in December for the first time since 2018.

Pittsburgh International now flies to 61 airports with 151 peak-day departures.

“There are still some gaps ... that we’re working to fill, but we’re very encouraged at the rate of replacement for pre-pandemic markets,” Ms. Cassotis said.

Also Thursday, the authority board approved a one-year deal with Turo, a car-sharing service, to operate at Pittsburgh International and county airports.

Turo bills itself as the “world’s largest car sharing marketplace where you can book any car you want, wherever you want it.” It’s sometimes described as the “Airbnb of cars.”

The company relies on private car owners to post their vehicles for lease on its website, where it claims that rentals can be had for as low as $25 a day.

Under the agreement, Turo will pay the authority 10% of gross revenues for transactions that occur on Pittsburgh International or county airport property, plus any applicable public parking fees. It also will pay an annual license or marketing fee.

Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com 

First Published: July 20, 2023, 8:44 p.m.

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