FAA: Pittsburgh airport OK to sell naming rights

IMPERIAL, Pa. (AP) — Allegheny County Council and the county’s airport authority are considering selling naming rights to Pittsburgh International Airport — or parts of it.

The county owns the airport, which is run by the authority.

FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac said that the agency doesn’t have to approve such a deal.

While some council members would like to sell the airport’s name to offset airport debt or lower the gate fees it charges airlines, others object, including Democrat County Councilman Michael Finnerty, who says the idea is “over the top.”

That said, Finnerty and others are in favor of selling naming rights to gates, terminals or concourses. The airport’s landside terminal is already named for Tom Foerster, the late county commissioner who headed efforts to build the new airport, which opened in 1992.