Pittsburgh is an "above average new city" for Southwest Airlines, its chief executive officer said yesterday, and the Dallas low-fare pioneer continues to look for ways to add to its 23 daily flights at Pittsburgh International Airport.
Does that mean the market is profitable two years after it started service here?
"Of course it is," Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said yesterday after delivering the keynote speech to the St. Barnabas CEO Leadership Conference in Richland. "We don't talk about individual city results in terms of revenues or load factors or any of those things beyond what we file publicly, but, oh yeah, it's a very successful market for us."
Southwest is gaining on US Airways as the No. 1 carrier at Pittsburgh International. After decades of dominance, US Airways' share of total airport traffic dropped last month to 38.9 percent -- down 26.1 percent vs. a year ago -- while No. 2 Southwest rose to 15.5 percent, up 28.5 percent from a year ago.
US Airways Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker last week called Pittsburgh "marginally unprofitable" for the Tempe, Ariz.-based carrier despite years of airline layoffs and flight eliminations. The airline cut service to seven more cities this summer and reduced frequency of service to 12 other cities, bringing its total daily flights to 110 and cities served directly to 46. Mr. Parker hinted that more flights could be cut as the airline looks to pare unprofitable routes from its system.
Asked about Mr. Parker's comments, Mr. Kelly agreed Southwest's growth here has something to do with US Airways' unprofitability. Southwest started with 10 flights in May 2005 and now has 23 to seven different cities -- Baltimore, Chicago, Las Vegas, Orlando and Tampa, Fla., Philadelphia and Phoenix.
"Our story is good," Mr. Kelly said. "We are only thinking about growing here. Certainly to the extent our competitors drop service that just accelerates our growth opportunity." Southwest intends to add 39 planes to its fleet this year and 19 next year. "We are going to be watching Pittsburgh real closely," he said. "If the market demand is there, we will be here with more flights."
Mr. Kelly also previewed several announcements Southwest intends to make in the fourth quarter that could affect fliers here and around the country: a new fare structure, a "tweak" to its frequent flier program, and enhancements to its open boarding and seating process. There has been speculation that Southwest could introduce assigned seating for the first time in its history. "We have kept that a secret," he said, pretending to zip his mouth shut with his hand.
But in a question-and-answer session with the CEO Leadership Conference yesterday, he said that as a result of studying the idea he and his team "have never understood more about assigned seating in our entire lives."
The various changes -- wireless interconnectivity for passengers also is being studied -- are part of Southwest's attempt to win over more business travelers.
"It's pretty easy to attract leisure travelers," Mr. Kelly said. Business travelers, he said, "are little needier."
