Monday, July 21, 2003
Airline officials wouldn't put a timeline on the negotiations.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pennsylvania lawmakers and US Airways failed to meet their Friday deadline to decide whether the nation's seventh-largest airline will keep its hub at Pittsburgh International Airport.
"I think we're going to have to have some brass-knuckle negotiations to get it resolved," Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said Friday.
At issue is a five-year, $263.9 million incentive package that Gov. Ed Rendell and state leaders offered to persuade US Airways to keep its hub in Pittsburgh. The plan -- a mix of federal, state and local funding -- would upgrade hub terminals, hangars and other facilities, and lower operating costs in both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
But if the airline, which emerged from bankruptcy earlier this year, ultimately shuts down its Pittsburgh hub, as it has threatened to do as part of its companywide restructuring plan, it will not receive any aid for its hub in Philadelphia.
"We're still in the process of gathering and analyzing information in preparations for the next round of negotiations," said US Airways spokesman David Castelveter. "Clearly, it will not be done in the agreed-upon time frame."
'A priority'
Castelveter added, "We're not going to put a timeline on it, other than to say that it's a priority for both us and the state, and we'll work to reach a solution as soon as possible."
Specter said the negotiations have included "talk" about finding alternative airlines to service Pennsylvania, including at the Pittsburgh hub.
"My own instinct is, nothing is going to be decided very quickly," Specter said. "You have a lot of factors in play, a lot of moving parts, a big offer on the table from the state."
The drop-dead end-date to wrap up the negotiations is Jan. 5, when the airline is released from its lease at the Pittsburgh airport.