Colin McNickle At Large

The Airport Authority: Pogo nailed it

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Sometimes the things people say just make you shake your head in disbelief. Consider what’s been going on at the Allegheny County Airport Authority.

Delta Air Lines says it will end its nonstop Pittsburgh-to-Paris service on Sept. 3. That’s after a 10-year run.

You might recall that those flights bowed in 2009 with hefty subsidies – from the Allegheny Conference of Community Development and the state. That would be $9 million in subsidies over the first two years.

Regular flights later turned seasonal.

As recently as this past June, news accounts had it that demand had grown so much for the Paris flight since 2014 that Delta had to upgrade the service to a larger aircraft for the first time since those flights began nearly a decade ago.

But Wednesday last, Delta said it will scuttle the flights early next month.

Said the airline in a statement:

“Due to increased transatlantic capacity in the Pittsburgh market and other commercial considerations, Delta has made the tough business decision to discontinue its seasonal Pittsburgh-Paris service after the summer 2018 season.”

Gee. Hmmm. What might have caused that “increased transatlantic capacity”? And what might those “other commercial considerations” be?

Could it be, just perhaps, because the Airport Authority – using gaming money and other state money (i.e. all public dollars) – has been going on a corporate wealthfare spree to subsidize competing airlines to provide international service?

Do remember, Delta cut back the flights to seasonal when the subsidies dried up. And now? One can only wonder if Delta, seeing international competitors being offered public dollars, asked for more and was turned down.

Well?

And upon being turned down, did Delta decide to take a hike?

As the Post-Gazette reported it, “Morgan Durrant, a Delta spokesman, acknowledged that the competition ‘was a factor in the decision’ to end the Paris flight but declined to say to what degree.”

But is public money-juiced “competition” truly competition? No. It’s just the latest escapade by a government entity to create the illusion of economic strength and progress. It is marketplace perversion at its worst.

Now, to some of those head-shaking comments:

One airline consultant says the main reason Delta likely dropped its service was because WOW Air offers service to Paris, through Iceland, for $400 roundtrip, $1,000 less than Delta.

“(WOW) is just undercutting the market so dramatically that it’s unattractive for a higher-cost carrier,” he said

Good grief. What, no mention of the $800,000 in public subsidies given to WOW?

The same airline guru frets that WOW’s low fares could undercut also heavily subsidized Condor and British Airways.

This is intellectual vapidity at its worst.

Yet another consultant had the audacity to utter these words:

“It is not a warning sign for Pittsburgh. If it was such a clumsy market, why would British Airways go into it? British Airways had no idea that Delta was going to pull out. British Airways had every confidence that it could make it work with Delta there.”

This is stupendously insulting. Conveniently omitted is this salient fact: British Airways is getting a $3 million taxpayer handout.

Even more audacious are the words of the CEO of the Allegheny Conference:

The Delta flights “helped to pave the way for other airlines to look at the Pittsburgh market with fresh eyes, relative to service, and look where we are today. Nonstop options, internationally and domestically, are the best they’ve been in decades.”

Goodness gracious. The Delta flights appear to have paved the way for other airlines to look at the Pittsburgh market with dollars signs in their eyes – public dollars that, as Delta’s departure seems to suggest, continue to pervert the marketplace.

And, yes, let’s look where we are today – massive subsidies for multiple airlines. And, in the case of OneJet, forcing the subsidy-happy Airport Authority to file a lawsuit in an attempt to get back the majority of a million-dollar handout.

And, finally, this head-shaker, from Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis:

“(T)he reality is the Pittsburgh market is evolving and growing, and European carriers have entered the market offering additional nonstop transatlantic service.”

But only because the public is being shaken down for the “privilege.” And now, it appears a past-subsidized airline has been run out of town by a plethora of newly subsidized airlines.

The words of legendary comic strip character Pogo come to mind amidst all this nonsense:

“Having lost sight of our objectives, we redoubled our efforts.”

It’s a funny quote. But being applied as it can and should be to the Allegheny County Airport Authority, it’s not funny at all. It’s a public policy travesty.

Colin McNicke is a senior fellow and media specialist at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).

 

 

 

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Colin McNickle
Colin McNickle

Colin received his B.G.S. from Ohio University. The 40-year journalism veteran joined the Institute in October 2016. That followed a 22-year career with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 18 as director of editorial pages for Trib Total Media. Prior that, Colin had a long and varied career in media — from radio, newspapers and magazines, to United Press International and The Associated Press.

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