Officials huddle with governor over US Airways status HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) ? Responding to a threatened US Airways pullout from Pittsburgh International Airport, Gov. Ed Rendell said Wednesday that he and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh-area officials will propose a package of incentives that they hope will protect jobs and keep airport gates full. "A lot of what we put on the table will be good for US Air," Rendell told reporters after the meeting. "But if they leave, it will be good for Delta or Southwest or American." At stake are the 800 daily arrivals and departures by US Airways and its affiliates in Pittsburgh after the airline, in a March 30 filing just before it emerged from bankruptcy, notified the airport that it is canceling its lease there on Jan. 5, unless it negotiates a better deal. "We've been serving Pittsburgh since 1939 and we certainly would like to continue serving Pittsburgh," US Airways spokesman David Castelveter said. "But in order to do that, we have to do it in a much lower cost structure." Rendell met privately Wednesday with Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy, Allegheny County Sen. Jack Wagner, board members of the Allegheny County Airport Authority and Philadelphia city officials. After the meeting, Rendell said he and the others did not have specifics of what they would offer US Airways. The group expects to come up with those details in the coming weeks before they sit down with US Airways officials. But, he said, the strategy will be to offer a blend of capital improvements and cost reductions that will benefit all airlines and stand up over a long period. In exchange, they would ask for concessions from US Airways. "I would say we started with one principle: Try to keep as many jobs" as possible, said Jim Roddey, the Allegheny County executive, who is also on the airport authority board. During eight months in bankruptcy, US Airways cut its annual costs by $1.9 billion, thanks mostly to wage and benefits concessions from its workers. Because employees have taken pay cuts to help the company survive bankruptcy, Rendell said he prefers to keep US Airways in Pittsburgh, as opposed to a replacement airline that may not hire US Airways employees. Castelveter said 7,620 employees work at the Pittsburgh airport ? making it the largest private employer in the area, according to Murphy ? and 5,570 employees work at the Philadelphia airport. US Airways ? which has hubs in Charlotte, N.C., Pittsburgh and Philadelphia ? finances most of the Pittsburgh airport's operating budget. In 2001, the company paid $60.5 million in rental charges and $11.8 million in landing fees. Companies reorganizing under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection can cancel leases with federal bankruptcy court approval. In a related development, the Fitch Ratings service downgraded the Pittsburgh airport's revenue bonds from A- to BBB, saying US Airways' cancelation of its master lease at a hub was unprecedented. James Gilliland, an analyst for the New York-based service, said the downgrade has no immediate effect on the airport because it is not expected to issue any new revenue bonds and the Allegheny County Airport Authority, which operates the airport, has enough money to cover its debt payments for two years. He said, however, the downgrade is a "message to bond buyers that suddenly the world of airport bonds has taken a new turn to a place we never thought it would." "This is not acceptable behavior from a dominant airline to its hubbing airport," Gilliland said. "They can't just electively reject the lease and think that doesn't affect the airport bonds." Castelveter declined to respond directly to the rating agency's move, but said "the cost to operate out of Pittsburgh is enormously high and we need to bring those costs down." *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.pscutt.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************