Significant change is bound to continue

01-01-2006

To those who have survived the festivities and rise this first morning of the new year reading the Post-Gazette's Destinations section, let me be among the first to wish you a Happy 2006!

As we look backward, it is clear that for Pittsburgh area travelers, 2005 was a year of significant changes, only some of them positive.

The best news at Pittsburgh International Airport was that Southwest Airlines initiated service there in May. In just eight months, it has already grown into the airport's second-largest carrier in terms of flights and passengers. And although Southwest's local service is still less than one-sixth that of US Airways, the effect of its competition is obvious, with overall ticket prices to those markets it serves, Philadelphia, Chicago, Orlando, Tampa and Las Vegas, falling dramatically from levels preferred by the legacy carriers.

It is worth noting that Continental Airlines has more than doubled the number of flights it operates each week out of Pittsburgh International, from 20 to 46, and Air Canada, Air Tran and USA3000 have notched up their service a tad.

Unfortunately, those gains are not nearly enough to offset reductions by other major airlines, including American, Delta, Northwest and United, producing a nearly 26 percent overall decline in the number of flights from Pittsburgh International.

The other big airport story is that US Airways emerged from its second bankruptcy and merged its fate and future with America West airlines. Although the recently combined carrier now operates half as many flights from Pittsburgh International as last year, it still remains the airport's dominant airline.

There are some indications that management's intentions to recast the carrier as the world's largest low-fare airline will come to fruition, but it remains to be seen how that plays out, both on the intensely competitive national and international arenas, and in the less competitive local arena. It is safe to speculate that Pittsburghers who appreciate travel hope that although the carrier's name remains the same, the airline is changing.

Another big agent of change in travel during the past year was Mother Nature, which upset flight and cruise schedules with wind, water and icy blasts. The weather is always a final arbiter in travel plans, but 2005 seems to have been a particularly busy year, with a salvo of devastating storms and hurricanes dramatically changing popular destinations such as southern Louisiana and the northern Yucatan, probably for years to come. In my time as travel editor, there have never been so many occasions when we had to reconsider stories we planned to publish because of news events.

It is also certain that 2006 will continue to bring changes.

With major carriers such as Delta, Northwest and United still flying under protection of bankruptcy and upstart Independence Airways on the verge of dissolution, the future of aviation remains "up in the air," pun intended. Southwest expects to add flights and destinations from Pittsburgh in the coming year, but it's unlikely to pick up the slack if any of those troubled carriers shed local flights in an effort to find their way to solvency.

In any case, it's not likely that the average cost of flying from here to there will come down dramatically, or that the number of flight options will increase, but we can certainly hope. And like airport authority executive director Kent George, we also hope that some carrier can be coaxed to provide some nonstop service to Europe again.

Either would certainly do a lot to make the New Year brighter.

Finally, I want to mention the first change that will be taking place in the Destinations section in 2006.

With this issue, Marilyn McDevitt Rubin marks the completion of her 26th year in Pittsburgh journalism, beginning with the Pittsburgh Press in 1979 and, since 1993, with the Post-Gazette. Although her weekly On the Road column has appeared in the Destinations section for only six months, Marilyn has been my close colleague (we sit next to each other), good friend and even confidante for years, not to mention the occasional provider of delectable snacks. I will miss Marilyn for all those reasons, but I know she will flourish in retirement. I look forward to reading more tales of her travels and discoveries.

As the wise man said, change is good.

But big bills are better.

[Back to Articles Main]