Onorato talks to Southwest Airlines

Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato returned from a trip to Dallas to meet with southwest airlines officials to tell the media he was optimistic about the airline’s future at Pittsburgh international. He says the goal of the meeting was not to sign a deal but to remind the airline what was available at the airport and to get feed back from Southwest officials. Onorato says the company is interested in expanding at Pittsburgh international but must first deal with the growing cost of fuel. He says Southwest would not committee to any specifics but he feels that if US Airways pulls more flight Southwest would be interested in filling that void. Onorato says he also spoke to airline officials about what would be needed in the way of additional gates and baggage handling facilities if they were to expand. The County executive points out origination and destination traffic has increased as US airways has reduced the number of flights in and out of Pittsburgh international which he says is due to the increasing number of flights being offered by low cost carriers.