Pittsburgh airport to refund portion of airlines’ lease fees

IMPERIAL, Pa. (AP) — Airlines at Pittsburgh International Airport should get back tens of thousands of dollars on their 2007 lease fees because the airport’s landlord ended the year with a budget surplus.

Warmer than expected weather and operating efficiencies were the reasons for the anticipated savings of about $5 million, Allegheny County Airport Authority Chief Executive Brad Penrod said.

The leases with carriers call for any surplus money to be refunded as fee reductions or credits.

The refunds come as airlines face fee increases ranging from 33 percent to about 65 percent this year to counteract the cut in service by US Airways at the airport.

US Airways also began its plan to cut daily departures from Pittsburgh to 68, from its previous average of 108.

Since Jan. 6, however, US Airways has been paying a 20 percent premium — $250 to $500 per flight — to the airport authority because the airline is still using at least one dozen gates daily, rather than the 10 it had expected to use by now, Penrod said. The extra fees add about $3,000 daily to the airport authority’s coffers.

The agency will close the ends of two airport concourses because of the cutbacks in US Airways service.