Privatization, state control among options for Pittsburgh airport PITTSBURGH (AP) =97 US Airways may have rejected contracts and leases with= =20 Pittsburgh International Airport, but the airport's bills still have to be= =20 paid. The question is, who will pay them? In order to repay the bondholders= =20 who put up more than $1 billion for the award-winning facility, the=20 Allegheny County Airport Authority may have to ask the state to float=20 bonds, cut costs dramatically or even put the airport up for sale. The=20 state could float enough bonds to pay off the remaining $673 million debt=20 at Pittsburgh International, as well as debt at Philadelphia International= =20 Airport. Pittsburgh could raise parking and rental car fees and close=20 terminal space to cut costs. Or, if all else fails, Pittsburgh could sell=20 its airport to a private buyer. "It would be unprecedented in recent=20 history or on a scale this large," Kurt Forsgren, a director of Standard &= =20 Poor's in San Francisco, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for Sunday's=20 edition. The airport floated the bonds to pay for a new passenger terminal and to=20 make other airport improvements in the 1990s at the request of US Airways.= =20 But in declining to renew contracts with the airport, the airline cited=20 high costs for operating in Pittsburgh. "For US Airways to say this is a=20 high-cost facility is disingenuous when the airport (cost structure) is=20 what it is because US Airways asked for this (airport) years ago," Forsgren= =20 said. Pittsburgh's operating costs, including annual debt payments, were=20 $7.57 a passenger last year, according to the Federal Aviation=20 Administration and the Airports Council International-North America. The=20 cost is higher than US Airways' two bigger hubs. Philadelphia International= =20 is $5.69 a passenger and Charlotte-Douglas International in North Carolina= =20 is $3.51. "Airlines are notoriously cheap, and any time airports want to=20 pass costs onto the airlines, they yell and scream," said Jim Peters, an=20 FAA spokesman. In the meantime, local and state officials are expected to meet with US=20 Airways to start negotiating new contracts. US Airways controls over 80=20 percent of Pittsburgh International's passenger traffic and employees=20 almost 9,000 workers in the region =97 making it the largest private= employer=20 in the area, according to local officials. The airline is demanding $155=20 million in airport improvements or it might not base its MidAtlantic=20 Airways regional jet subsidiary at Pittsburgh. Should talks collapse before= =20 the Jan. 4 deadline arrives, Pittsburgh International would likely default= =20 on its loans and send the airport authority's debt rating into junk status.= =20 "There have been no defaults on this magnitude at an airport," Forsgren=20 said. "It would certainly send a shock wave through the whole airport= system." County Chief Executive Jim Roddey says he prefers "a local solution."=20 However, the airport already has refinanced several bonds in the 1990s.=20 "They are restricted under federal regulation from refinancing those=20 tax-exempt bonds again," said Bob Aumer, senior vice president in charge of= =20 public finance at Parker Hunter. A more likely option is for the state to=20 share the cost burden, Aumer said. "There are a number of options on the=20 table. The governor will then look at them and form a solution that's best= =20 for Pennsylvania," said Kate Philips, a spokeswoman for Gov. Ed Rendell. *************************************************** 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.cso.gov.tt TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************