Passenger Traffic at Pittsburgh International Up 8.6% in January
PITTSBURGH – Passenger traffic at Pittsburgh International Airport increased 8.6 percent in January, marking the twenty-first consecutive month of growth.
In a monthly report to the Board of Directors, Allegheny County Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis noted that carriers including Southwest, United, JetBlue, Air Canada, Southern Airways Express and OneJet all saw more passengers in January. Additionally, total operations were up 8.5 percent at Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin, and air taxi operations were up almost 44 percent year-over-year.
“When we see an increase in private air taxi operations, which are chartered flights for passengers and cargo, along with all the growth at Pittsburgh International, it indicates a healthy business climate in the region,” Cassotis said. “We’re pleased to see airlines responding with additional service, and we expect that this growth will continue throughout 2018.”
In coming months, new service is scheduled to begin to cities including Sarasota, Fla. and Charleston, S.C. on Allegiant; Montreal on Air Canada; Salt Lake City on Delta; and Seattle on Alaska.
Southwest continues to carry the largest amount of passengers at PIT (27.4 percent), followed by American with 27 percent. Domestic ultra low-cost carriers Allegiant, Frontier and Spirit comprised 10 percent of all passengers.
New service added in the last 12 months by Spirit, WOW air, Delta, Southwest and OneJet, as well as capacity growth to Boston on JetBlue and Delta; Chicago O’Hare, Miami and Philadelphia on American; Newark on United; and Las Vegas on Southwest contributed to the growth in seats and flights for the month of January.
Additionally, WOW air provides nonstop transatlantic service four times per week from Pittsburgh to Reykjavik. Allegiant continued weekend charter service to Cancun and Punta Cana on behalf of Apple Vacations, and Delta continued charter service to Cancun through January.
Total passengers for January totaled 639,865 compared to 588,963 in 2017.
Pittsburgh International Airport ended 2017 about 12,000 passengers shy of 9 million for an 8.2 percent increase – the largest year-over-year percentage increase in passengers in more than a decade.