Memo To Local Governments That Make Massive Giveaways to Businesses – They Will Up and Leave

Pittsburgh Learns the Hard Way with US Air

Given the quality of the flights on US Air that airline is not one that any locality wants to attract.  But Pittsburgh did and in order to have US Air treat Pittsburgh as a hub local and state government made a massive investment in the Pittsburgh Airport.

Pittsburgh once was one of the biggest hubs in US Airways' route network, with the current airport built as a popular and state-of-the-art facility built largely to accommodate US Airways' needs.

The Tribune-Review of Pittsburgh picks up on that theme, writing:

"Allegheny County officials borrowed more than $900 million to build Pittsburgh International Airport in the early 1990s, largely to US Airways' specifications, but two bankruptcies in the early 2000s prompted the airline to close its hub, slash more than 500 daily flights, and gut a workforce that surpassed 12,000. Today it hovers around 1,800."

So now what is happening?  Oh, this

US Airways footprint in Pittsburgh continues to shrink.

That latest came when US Airways announced last week that it will close its 6-year old flight operations center in Pittsburgh. US Airways is making the move as part of its merger consolidation with American Airlines, which already has a flight operations center near its Dallas/Fort Worth headquarters.

US Airways says most of the 600 employees at the Pittsburgh center will be given the option to relocate to Texas, though it acknowledged it doesn't expect all of them to do so. Those who chose not to go will be given a severance package, spokesman Todd Lehmacher tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

And everybody should remember that this merger was blessed by the Feds, looking out for everyone and trying to help the economy.