Airlines flying out of Pittsburgh International Airport will get their two cents’ worth next year.
After being buffeted by increases two of the last three years, carriers will see their cost per enplanement drop by a literal two cents in 2024 to $11.95.
Allegheny County Airport Authority board members set the very slight drop in the CPE, an industry benchmark, in approving next year’s $148.3 million budget Friday.
The new spending plan, a 4.3% increase over this year’s $142.2 million budget, is perhaps most notable in projecting that passenger traffic will finally hit pre-pandemic 2019 levels in 2024.
“We expect that next year we will be fully recovered,” authority CEO Christina Cassotis told board members.
Through October of this year, passenger traffic had returned to 93.9% of 2019 levels.
Airlines saw the cost per enplanement jump from $10.58 to $11.97 this year after the authority’s operating budget spiked 10.1%, with inflation and rising costs cited as the culprits,
The cost to board a passenger at Pittsburgh soared to $20.50 in 2020 because of the pandemic and the accompanying plunge in traffic. It fell to $12.33 in 2021. In 2019, it had hit a six-year low of $9.77.
There’s a direct correlation between the cost per enplanement and the number of travelers who use the airport each year. Typically, the higher the traffic volume, the lower the CPE is.
With the tiny decrease in the cost to board a passenger next year, Ms. Cassotis said, Pittsburgh International sits “nicely in the middle” of airports throughout the country.
Last year, the authority stated that the average per-passenger cost at airports in the U.S. and Canada was about $17.50, based on an Airports Council International survey.
Ms. Cassotis said that the airlines had approved the budget and are “very happy” with it.
“What I want to point out is that this is very much in line with what we expected and what the airlines expected,” she said.
Next year’s spending plan is predicated in part on an 11.3% increase in non-airline revenue including parking, rental cars, and concessions. The authority estimates that each of those will rise by 11%, 13%, and 10%, respectively.
On the expense side, the budget projects a 10% increase in personnel costs, an 8.2% jump in cleaning and maintenance, and a 1.6% decrease in professional services.
The authority board also approved a $76 million capital budget for 2024.
Major projects at Pittsburgh International include millions of dollars of work on the airside building in conjunction with the $1.57 billion airport modernization, which includes a new landside building; deicing pad; storm water and pavement improvements; taxiway and runway rehabs; and fire training simulator renovations.
At Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin, the authority is budgeting for runway, taxiway, and airfield pavement enhancements, a terminal roof replacement, and Route 885 tunnel improvements.
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com
First Published: November 17, 2023, 7:05 p.m.
Updated: November 18, 2023, 4:27 a.m.