PIT Airport March 2009 Passenger Traffic Report

PITTSBURGH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT PASSENGER TRAFFIC REPORT FOR MARCH 2009

• AirTran traffic up 34.3% for month; 52.5% for year

PITTSBURGH, PA (April 17, 2009) – AirTran Airways passenger traffic at Pittsburgh International Airport (www.FlyPittsburgh.com) continued to show remarkable growth as the airline reported 34.3 percent more passengers in March 2009 compared to March 2008 (73,855 passengers in March 2009/54,991 passengers in March 2008; 34.3 percent increase) according to the March 2009 Scheduled Airline Traffic Report prepared by the Allegheny County Airport Authority.

A total of 686,152 scheduled passengers were enplaned and deplaned at the airport in March 2009, a 12.0 percent decrease compared to March 2008 (686,152/779,921; 12.0 percent decrease). One reason for the decline was that last year Easter was in March so both Spring Break and the Easter holiday caused an increase in discretionary air travel in one month’s period. This year that traffic is spread across March and April.

For AirTran, March continued a trend of growing passenger traffic as the airline jumped to the third-busiest at Pittsburgh International Airport, behind U.S. Airways and Southwest Airlines. For the year, AirTran has reported a 52.5 percent increase in traffic through the first three months of 2009 compared to 2008 (183,918/120,593; 52.5 percent increase).

In March, AirTran averaged 76 departures per week to such destinations as Atlanta (four daily), Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (two daily), Ft. Myers, Fla. (two daily), Orlando (two daily) and Tampa (one daily). Additionally, the airline had a 20.8 percent increase in aircraft landings at the airport in March 2009 compared to March 2008 (337 in 2009/279 in March 2008; 20.8 percent increase). Joining AirTran in reporting an increase in passenger traffic was American, which reported a 2.1 percent increase (37,828/37,044; 2.1 percent).

US Airways reported a 24.1 percent decrease (194,943/256,737, 24.1 percent decrease) and it's overall share of monthly passenger traffic dropped to 28.4 percent, the first time the airline has ever had fewer than a 30 percent share of the airport's passengers. Southwest (134,321/134,569; 0.2 percent), Delta (69,657/86,658; 19.6 percent), United (59,447/67,762; 12.3), Continental (42,559/46,040; 7.6 percent), Northwest (39,740/42,033; 5.5 percent), USA3000 (13,710/20,911; 34.4 percent), JetBlue (11,984/18,252; 34.5 percent), Midwest (4,922/10,073; 51.1), Air Canada (2,411/3,263; 26.1 percent) and Myrtle Beach Direct Air (811/1,588; 48.9 percent) also reported decreases for the month..

Year-to-date figures show traffic behind the pace of 2008. Through the first three months of 2009, traffic is 11.8% lower than the same time period in 2008 (1,817,273/2,060,336; -11.8%).