At the last board meeting of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, CEO Christina Cassotis said it was a “’really big deal’ that Aer Lingus executives showed up at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade [on March 14] to promote its new route from Pittsburgh to Dublin, which begins in May,” the Post-Gazette reported.
That, she said, was because airline executives met with local businesses that have operations in Ireland to discuss potential corporate partnerships.
And Cassotis said that the Dublin flight had “strong” bookings, “to go along with similarly stout numbers for British Airways and Icelandair, the airport’s other European carriers,” the P-G reported.
But…
The P-G didn’t bother to note in its latest dispatch that the Aer Lingus flights are being subsidized over the next two years with $5.25 million in taxpayer money. If there’s such the demand, as officials claimed there would be, why was there a multimillion-dollar subsidy to begin with?
And while saying that Pittsburgh International’s “transatlantic service seems to be in very good shape” — what with Cassotis noting how international passengers increasing by 3 percent in February over February 2025 through British Airways (BA) and Icelandair service — Cassotis & Co. still haven’t released one important metric:
The number of foreign-originating travelers flying from Europe to Pittsburgh.
It’s quite an important statistic considering taxpayer subsidies, especially for BA, were vigorously defended with claims that veritable throngs of people would be flying to Pittsburgh from the UK, if not other European locales, thus contributing mightily to the Greater Pittsburgh economy.
That such numbers have not been made public suggests otherwise. After all, if it were true, wouldn’t the Airport Authority be toot-tooting it?
And it buttresses the oft-repeated argument made by Allegheny Institute President-emeritus Jake Haulk that subsidies to foreign airlines export economic benefits abroad instead of importing them to Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Cassotis says February’s 3 percent increase is “yet another indication of the airlines’ confidence in the Pittsburgh market.”
Sorry, but it’s likely more of an indication of the foreign airlines’ confidence that they can offload millions of dollars of risk that they alone should bear on domestic destinations and reap ancillary benefits for their foreign economies.
It reminds us of that classic “Twilight Zone” episode from 1962. Seemingly altruistic “Kanamits” aliens visit Earth under the guise of helping humanity deal with all its ills.
They agree to share their technology in their book, “To Serve Man.” But it’s not a technical book, a blueprint for human salvation, but a cookbook; they’re taking humankind back to their planet to eat them.
No, we’re not alleging that British Airways and Aer Lingus are luring Pittsburghers to their respective countries to make them their main dish. But in a manner of speaking, they’re taking handsome taxpayer subsidies to eat our cake and leave the empty plate at the PIT gate.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
