April 11--Pittsburgh International Airport's longtime air service development director will retire next month, a move that further strains its ability to boost flights, officials said on Friday.

The looming departure of Lucinda Harshman follows the Airport Authority's mid-March decision to force out top executive Brad Penrod.

It arrives as Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald demands increased flight service at the underused airport.

Pittsburgh averages 150 daily flights to 37 destinations, down from more than 600 flights to 110 destinations in the early 2000s.

Acting Executive Director James R. Gill declined to comment on Harshman's departure.

"This is not part of a shake-up, and she wasn't forced out," airport spokeswoman JoAnn Jenny said.

Jenny said Harshman, 65, of Mt. Lebanon is highly regarded in industry circles and helped attract airlines and flights when US Airways closed its Pittsburgh hub a decade ago. She described Harshman's work to get Delta Air Lines to start trans-Atlantic service between Pittsburgh and Paris in 2009 as her signature achievement.

"She has done everything humanly possible to get more air service there," said Mike Boyd, a Colorado-based airline industry consultant who knows Harshman from doing consulting work for the Pittsburgh airport.

Boyd didn't think the departures of Penrod and Harshman would hamper Pittsburgh's ability to boost flights.

"It's not a people thing. It has to do with the airlines and economics," Boyd said, alluding to airline mergers and economic turbulence that have caused domestic flights to drop in each of the past five years. "Somebody really needs to tell the county executive that you have virtually all the air service you're going to get."

Fitzgerald didn't return a call.

Harshman, who formally notified the authority of her retirement plan on Wednesday, did not respond to interview requests. She started working at Pittsburgh International in 1996 after working for Trans World Airlines for 20 years.

Jenny said the authority hasn't determined who will succeed Harshman. Bryan Dietz, 26, manages the air service development department, and Moniqua Williams was recently hired as a business analyst in the department.

Also Friday, Airport Authority board member Dennis Davin, the county's economic development director, said the authority is evaluating CEO search firms to help find a replacement for Penrod. He predicted an airport chief will be hired "within the next six months, hopefully sooner than that."

The authority appears to be close to finalizing a separation agreement with Penrod. The two sides agreed to terms but federal law gives Penrod until Tuesday to change his mind, authority Solicitor Michael Wojcik said.

Authority officials said they won't discuss details of the package before then, and Penrod couldn't be reached. The deal will include contractually guaranteed health coverage for a certain period, severance pay, and money for unused vacation and sick days, plus any additional money negotiated, Wojcik said.

Tom Fontaine is a Trib Total Media staff writer.

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