Bradford Regional Airport won’t be directly affected by a cut in
service by US Airways in Pittsburgh.

On Thursday, US Airways officials announced the airline would be
cutting non-stop service from Pittsburgh to Buffalo, N.Y., Altoona,
Baltimore, San Diego and Seattle, effective July 7.

The company will also reduce service to such cities as Erie,
Albany, N.Y., Newark, N.J., Indianapolis, New York’s LaGuardia
Airport, Chicago, Philadelphia, Providence, R.I., Syracuse, N.Y.,
and Toronto, officials said.

As a result of the cut backs, Pittsburgh will only have 127
daily flights from its largest carrier. Since late 2001, the
airline has eliminated 415 flights from the airport and has
downgraded Pittsburgh from a hub city to “focus city.”

The diminishing service in Pittsburgh is one of the reasons
officials at Bradford Regional have decided to change hub cities
from Pittsburgh to Washington’s Dulles International Airport.

“Obviously, this is why we are trying to move out of Pittsburgh
and get to Washington,” Bradford Airport Director Tom Frungillo
said Thursday, after hearing of US Airways’ plans. “These changes
won’t affect us directly.”

As it stands, Bradford’s US Airways carrier, Colgan Air Inc., is
providing steady service to the facility.

Colgan is currently working to make the change in hubs occur,
and has been held up recently in trying to secure the optimum gate
for the arrival of flights at Dulles. Airline officials have also
been working on reaching a code share agreement with United
Airlines, which was awarded a non-stop route between Washington and
Bejing, China.

The new Washington service would open up more domestic and
international markets to local business and leisure travelers. Most
importantly, Bradford airport officials hope an increase in
enplanements at the facility will wean the airport off the federal
Essential Air Service program.

“They (Colgan officials) are still working on it (changeover),”
Frungillo said. “It’s really come down to a real estate issue and
trying to get the right gates.”

According to an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on
Thursday, with the reductions in Pittsburgh, other larger markets
will benefit – including Washington, Charlotte, Philadelphia,
Phoenix, New York City and Las Vegas.

“We are not happy about it,” said Kent George, director of the
Allegheny County Airport Authority, told The Associated Press.
“What will their commitment be to us in the future? What will they
do? … We are asking US Airways, ‘Are we a focus city or are we not
going to be a focus city anymore?'”

US Airways spokeswoman Valerie Wunder said the move was made to
better utilize the airline’s services.

“We’re able to put crews and aircraft into markets that have
more demand from markets that have less demand,” Wunder told
AP.

The cuts leave US Airways with direct service between Pittsburgh
and only two West Coast cities – Los Angeles and San Francisco.