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AirTran to expand nonstop flights to Florida
(The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sep. 6--Pittsburgh passengers bound for Florida will have more nonstops to choose from next month, but the flights will decline somewhat in January.
AirTran Airways will begin nonstop flights from Pittsburgh International Airport to Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Fort Myers on Oct. 12, the Allegheny County Airport Authority announced Friday.
The airline will fly four times a week to Fort Myers and Fort Lauderdale, and five times a week to Tampa. That schedule will ramp up to one flight a day between Nov. 20 and Dec. 3 for Thanksgiving holiday travel.
"Florida has so many popular destinations, and AirTran Airways is doing a great job getting passengers there," said Bradley Penrod, executive director of the airport authority.
AirTran plans to increase its Pittsburgh-Fort Lauderdale schedule to two daily departures four days a week on Feb. 12.
But other Pittsburgh nonstops to Florida will stop in January. US Airways intends to end flights to all three of its nonstop destinations in Florida on Jan. 5. The airline will discontinue nonstops to Orlando, which now number 11 a week; six nonstops a day (except Saturdays) to Tampa; and daily nonstops to Fort Lauderdale.
US Airways passengers from Pittsburgh will still be able to connect to Florida, mostly through Charlotte and sometimes through Philadelphia, said spokesman Morgan Durrant.
But instead of a 2-hour, 15-minute flight to Tampa, Pittsburgh passengers would have a more than 4-hour trip, including layover. A trip to Orlando would take nearly six hours, instead of a nonstop flight that now takes only two hours and 10 minutes.
The carrier continues to cut capacity to combat high fuel costs. US Airways will reduce overall capacity by 4 percent to 6 percent next year. This Oct. 1, the carrier will cut flight by 10 percent in Phoenix, by 25 percent in Las Vegas, and by 2 percent in Philadelphia.
To see more of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
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