As a matter of ensuring sound public policy, it is long past time for state investigators to peel back the layers of the opaque onion that has become the Allegheny County Airport Authority.
Use of the term “state investigators” hardly is an incendiary phrase that pushes the envelope. It is most apropos given that under Pennsylvania law, it is the state Attorney General’s Office that is charged with auditing the agency that runs the show at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) and the Allegheny County Airport (AGC).
And make no mistake, ongoing developments at the authority warrant a look-see into how it has been conducting its business.
Of particular concern should be how the authority board has given CEO Christina Cassotis plenary power to grant subsides to airlines seeking to do business at PIT and what due diligence steps are taken to vet the finances of those receiving such subsidies.
The state AG’s office also should review how county and state agencies have augmented those subsidies: Who’s talking to whom and how have these deals been coordinated.
The most recent case in point that necessitates an outside and independent review is the OneJet mess.
The startup airline that catered to business travelers promised grand things as public officials armed it with $3 million in public subsidies. Those officials called it an “investment.” It was nothing more than a fleecing. There was lots and lots of rah-rah-sis-boom-bah-ing from not only Cassotis but airline industry consultant Mike Boyd.
“It would appear to me this should work very well,” Boyd told the Tribune-Review in May 2017. Cassotis touted how local officials outbid other airports/regions
to land OneJet.
But it didn’t take long for OneJet to go kerplunk. It failed, in stunning fashion, to live up to its agreement to produce the service it promised. And that prompted the Airport Authority to go to court to recover the lion’s share of its $1 million mistake. That case is pending.
Then it was revealed that the federal government filed a tax lien against OneJet for arrearages in excise taxes. But what’s striking is that those arrearages reportedly dated to before millions of dollars in public money was given to OneJet.
Which raises the question of how OneJet, or any carrier being considered for public subsidies, was and is vetted. Sound public policy demands due diligence.
And it also demands checks and balances. It was in April 2016 that the Airport Authority board gave Cassotis the power to grant subsidies – “up to any amount,” the Trib reported – without a board vote. That’s outrageous.
Since then, Cassotis has handed out public money to a number of airlines like Halloween candy. And every deal has been dubious. Sound public policy is being disserved.
OneJet, by the way, said when it suspended service that it would be back in business beginning Oct. 1. As of this writing, it is not. It’s not even taking reservations. And as the Post-Gazette reported Thursday last, OneJet has none of the required Federal Aviation Administration “air carrier operating certificates” to fly. Neither has it resolved the federal tax lien.
But more must happen than just a state Attorney General “audit.” The state Legislature must grant clear auditing authority to either the state Auditor General’s Office and/or the office of the Allegheny County controller.
Unfortunately, legislation that would allow the auditor general to do just that appears to have no legs in Harrisburg. It moved out of a state Senate committee at the end of last year but was tabled in the Senate in March, recounts the Allegheny Institute’s Eric Montarti.
The Airport Authority, among other county authorities, heretofore has balked at allowing the county controller to review operations. They routinely use the rationale that they are “independent” agencies not subject to the county controller and have their own outside auditors.
These, however, are the very same authorities that regularly allow their “independence” to be commandeered by the pols who appoint their members — elected officials who expect their bidding to be done or else.
Again, sound public policy demands checks and balances and transparency. Until that comes to the Allegheny County Airport Authority, reasonable people will view its operations as suspect. It’s time to start peeling that onion.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
