PIT Wraps Up Summer with Another Record Travel Month

Pittsburgh International Airport closed out August with another consecutive month of travel reaching two-decade highs.

Driven by continued strong demand for air travel, PIT experienced its busiest August since 2005, with over 935,000 travelers passing through the airport during the month. Traffic for the month was up 12.8 percent from August 2023 and exceeded August 2019’s pre-pandemic totals by over 48,000 passengers.

Last month also had the most August capacity operated by airlines at PIT since 2006. Airlines operated nearly 1.2 million scheduled seats at PIT, a 12.3 percent increase year-over-year. Scheduled capacity exceeded August 2019’s total by over 145,000 seats.

While many airlines continue to add flights and use larger aircraft – both in Pittsburgh and nationwide – among the biggest contributors to PIT’s capacity growth in August were Frontier Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Spirit Airlines. Frontier and Spirit each have added numerous destinations at PIT this year including Boston, New York-LaGuardia and Philadelphia. Southwest began nonstop service to San Diego earlier this summer and increased capacity to many of the 18 total destinations it serves from the airport.

Over 6.6 million total passengers have flown through PIT so far in 2024, up 9.9 percent from 2023 and outpacing 2019 by more than 151,000 passengers. Year-to-date traffic at PIT – the total number of travelers that have passed through the airport so far this year – is currently the highest since 2007.

Market share for ultra-low-cost carriers continues to rise at the airport. The segment – which includes Allegiant Air, Frontier, Spirit and Sun Country Airlines – transported nearly 17 percent of all passengers at PIT in August.

During the month, Allegiant reached a milestone when it surpassed 3 million passengers at the airport since it began service in 2015. The airline, which specializes in serving point-to-point leisure markets, has grown to a network of 14 nonstop destinations from PIT, including nine in Florida, the most of any carrier flying between Pittsburgh and the Sunshine State.

PIT’s current network of nonstop flights consists of 62 destinations across 159 peak-day departures. New flights on the horizon include Delta Air Lines resuming daily nonstop flights to Salt Lake City Nov. 23 and Southwest resuming seasonal service to Miami Jan. 12.

Other seasonal routes returning soon include Fort Myers on Breeze Airways starting Oct. 3 and Spirit starting Nov. 20, and Tampa on Spirit starting Oct. 10.

Meanwhile, cargo at PIT in August was up nearly 9 percent year-over-year thanks to another strong month for mail, which was up 97 percent from August 2023. Mail – and cargo volumes overall – have risen after UPS increased its flights at PIT and upgraded flights dedicated to mail volumes to McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft, while Amazon added a second daily flight earlier this year

RELATED: You’ve Got (More) Mail: UPS Adds Flights, Bigger Planes

Daily service to London

Following another successful summer this year, British Airways will upgrade its nonstop service between Pittsburgh and London Heathrow from six days a week to seven starting March 31, 2025. Daily flights will operate through October and continue to operate four times a week in the winter.

It’s the first time British Airways will operate a daily flight schedule between Pittsburgh and London Heathrow since it began the route in 2019. The route, initially served four times a week, was upgraded to six times a week during the summers of 2023 and 2024. Daily service is estimated to generate nearly $6.2 million in economic impact, raising the route’s total to $75 million.

A daily flight schedule will offer travelers flying on British Airways more flexibility traveling to London and connecting to over 190 destinations across more than 65 countries. A member of the Oneworld Alliance, British Airways codeshares and interlines with numerous member carriers and partners including American Airlines, Aer Lingus, Iberia, Finnair and Qatar Airways.

RELATED: British Airways to Go Daily on Pittsburgh-London Route

For the 12 months ending in July 2024, Rome, Athens, Prague and Venice were among the top European destinations for connecting travelers on the Pittsburgh-London route. Cities including Dublin and Budapest have also seen an increase in connecting traffic through British Airways’ service.

India is another top connecting market on the Pittsburgh-London route with Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai among its top city pairs. British Airways boasts a strong India network from London Heathrow which it plans to grow further by adding a third daily flight to New Delhi beginning in April 2025.

Demand up, fuel costs down

While the industry has reported signs of oversupply through price discounting and plans to moderate capacity, some airlines are getting a tailwind heading through the third quarter.

JetBlue, which operates daily flights between Pittsburgh and Boston, recently raised its third quarter guidance from an expected loss of between 1.5-5.5 percent to a 1 percent gain year-over-year.

JetBlue cited increased bookings, as well as improvements made to its operational performance, as drivers to its elevated guidance. JetBlue also reported that its revenue increased in July as it re-accommodated travelers from other airlines impacted by July’s global CrowdStrike outage.

Alaska Airlines, which flies up to two daily flights between Pittsburgh and Seattle, also shared that its revenue rose by accommodating travelers during the outage. Coupled with strong demand through August and September and lower-than-expected fuel costs, Alaska raised its projected total revenue from flat to 2 percent year-over-year for the quarter.

Frontier also says lower fuel costs are helping the airline, revising its third quarter guidance due to better-than-expected revenue through September.

While speaking at Morgan Stanley’s annual Laguna Conference last week, Frontier CEO Barry Biffle attributed the airline’s updated forecast to its network realignment – which included its expansion at PIT earlier this year – and transitioning its pricing and onboard product from al-la-carte to bundles fares.

A Frontier A320neo taxis into its gate at PIT from Philadelphia on June 27, 2024. Frontier is one of several U.S. airlines raising their quarterly guidance as the industry continues to cite strong demand. (Photo by Beth Hollerich)

Alaska closes Hawaiian merger

Alaska Airlines cleared one of the final hurdles to complete its merger with Hawaiian Airlines as the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) formally approved the two carriers’ $1.9 billion agreement. Shortly after receiving the DOT’s sign-off, Alaska announced it had closed its merger with Hawaiian on Wednesday.

As conditions of the merger, both airlines agreed with the DOT to maintain passenger and cargo service on several routes between Hawaii and the U.S. mainland and preserve service to rural areas deemed essential by the agency.

Additionally, both airlines must maintain each of their separate frequent flier programs before creating a new, combined loyalty program that will ensure miles will not expire and can transfer at a 1-to-1 ratio. Hawaiian must also adopt Alaska’s guaranteed family seating policy and its practice of compensation in the event of significant delays or cancellations.

The protections of the merger must be maintained over a six-year period, according to the DOT.

Alaska and Hawaiian’s merger also cleared the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in August after a review period by antitrust regulators. No lawsuit was ever filed by the agency to attempt blocking the merger. The DOJ successfully sued and blocked both JetBlue’s proposed $3.8 billion merger with Spirit in early 2024 and the Northeast Alliance codeshare between American JetBlue in 2023.

Alaska and Hawaiian first announced their merger agreement in December 2023. It combines Alaska’s strong West Coast presence with Hawaiian’s U.S. and Pacific network while retaining both airline brands across a fleet of 360 Boeing and Airbus aircraft. In addition, both airlines will serve a combined 29 international destinations across the Americas, Asia, Australia and the South Pacific, plus another 1,200 cities through Alaska’s membership in Oneworld and its airline partners.

Alaska says it will begin aligning operations with Hawaiian over the next 18 months, with plans to obtain a single operating certificate in the future. During that period, it plans to integrate flight purchases on both Alaska and Hawaiian websites, website and app enhancements and shared lounge access.

Alaska closed its $1.9 billion agreement with Hawaiian Sept. 24 after receiving formal approval from federal regulators. (Courtesy of Alaska Airlines)