AIRWAYS INTERVIEW Christina Cassotis we could put to use , energy became an evident opportunity , coupled with the industry ’ s need for practical solutions .
And , so , we have a number that we are rolling out , one which we ’ ve already completed . And I ’ d say that that ’ s been our story — just looking at how to do things differently so we can operate more at the intersection of sort of what I would call great American operational efficiency and great global commercial opportunities , which airports around the world have sometimes done better than in the US . I ’ m talking about global .
Talking about global , I remember we briefly met in London , when the launch of the British Airways service was announced , and I remember the excitement of all the C-suite . We ’ re recovering . Because that [ London ] used to be a US Airways destination . London was our largest unserved international market , as it is for many US markets . So , it was very important for us to secure and make sure that British Airways could succeed , and we brought them back .
Then , a year later , when the COVID-19 pandemic hit , we were very supportive of them pulling the flight through those times . We understood that they were going to keep flying to New York , but it didn ’ t make sense for them to keep flying to Pittsburgh .
So , now together with Icelandair , those are your two international flights to Europe . Have there been any new developments on that matter ? Any new proposed destinations to serve ? We worked with British Airways on reinstating a second time after the pandemic . I ’ m pleased to say that we ’ ve gone from four to six weekly frequencies and hope to get to daily . So , we have really wanted to make sure that that flight succeeds .
In the meantime , we just launched Icelandair , which is really a nice replacement for WOW Air , which had been in the market . It opened up Iceland to a lot of folks in Pittsburgh . It opened up great connections to Europe .
So , we very much want to see these two succeed . We ’ ve been very public about courting Aer Lingus . There ’ s a huge VFR [ visiting relatives and friends ] market in Pittsburgh .
Dan Rooney was an owner of the Steelers , one of the founding members of the NFL franchise the
Pittsburgh Steelers . And he was a US ambassador there . So , lots of communities of interest there .
And there ’ s a huge tech community that also goes back and forth . We are also very public about the fact that we ’ d love to see either Frankfurt or Amsterdam as a Central European connecting hub with also good O & D traffic . So , yeah , we ’ ve got more on our plate .
We ’ d love to see some really good hub in Latin or Central America able to take folks into what is a very small market , but a growing one . And then , eventually , we ’ d love to see a Gulf carrier also serving India in ways that would complement what British Airways does . We have a very , very large Indian population in Pittsburgh .
For cargo , we actually are very excited about being able to build on the success we had during the pandemic , which was to say to freight forwarders , shippers , and airlines , ‘ You can actually get the plane on the ground and get the cargo off the airport within an hour .’ As you know , there are issues in some of the major cargo hubs in the US , and we think that Pittsburgh is a nice alternative . We ’ re really looking forward to expanding the air cargo .
You ’ re being bullish about it .
Because it ’ s a good market and it ’ s got good bones . It ’ s got good fundamentals . And we are building in a way that I think is very responsible to make sure that everybody succeeds . The last thing we want is for somebody to not succeed . That ’ s not a good thing . And the airline industry is very skittish once it starts seeing a little weakness .
Let ’ s talk about the new terminal building . What is its latest development ? When are you expecting to open ? We ’ ll open next year . We will open in 2025 . We ’ re shooting for the third quarter , probably end of third quarter . But we will have a definite date once we ’ re six months out , because we know lots of people need to make plans , and we ’ ve got moves to plan , etcetera , for our own offices and the airlines , our partners .
It ’ s a beautiful facility . The quality of the construction is amazing , and we ’ re really excited to have it open . The roadways are complete . We ’ re starting to put down surface parking . There ’ s a lot happening out there .
The technology , which we ’ ve always said … you know , five years ago , people said , ‘ Well , what are
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