Monday, Oct. 20, 2003 | 11:15 a.m.
PITTSBURGH -- While US Airways contemplates cutting service at its hub at Pittsburgh International Airport, a new discount airline is set to take off from there next summer.
The new carrier, which would initially fly between Pittsburgh and nine other cities, is being created by former America West Airlines chief executive Edward Beauvais, Allegheny County Executive Jim Roddey said Tuesday.
Roddey's announcement may be the answer to how the region would replace US Airways if the Arlington, Va.-based airline reduces service in Pittsburgh, as it has threatened to do since emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March.
"This is good news for Pittsburgh and as far as US Airways is concerned, this plan was modeled as if US Airways will stand and fight," Roddey said. "And if they do anything less than that, this plan would accelerate."
Roddey, a Republican, is running for re-election to a second four-year term in November.
The new airline, dubbed "Project Roam" would initially employ about 500 people, Roddey said. There are plans to expand to 39 destinations and hire 2,100 employees within five years,
The airline, which would be privately financed at first, would offer fares as low as $49 and will use new Boeing 737-700 aircraft, seating a dozen passengers in business class and 114 in coach class.
Flights would offer in-flight entertainment such as television, video games and pay-per-view movies.
An announcement by the organizers of the new airline indicated that Las Vegas eventually would be a destination it would serve, but it isn't among the first wave of cities on the airline's route map.
Currently, US Airways is the only airline offering nonstop round trips between Pittsburgh and McCarran International Airport. The airline has two daily flights and a third that operates six times a week.
US Airways has said it may pull out of the airport if it doesn't get as much as $863 million in financial aid or improvements for its hubs in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said last week that the airline has committed to keeping its flight schedule at the airport virtually unchanged through next September as a sign of good faith in the ongoing negotiations to retain the Pittsburgh hub.
Allegheny County and state officials have said, however, that they can't give US Airways the key thing it wants -- a major reduction in the $500 million debt the airline owes on a new terminal built in 1992.
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