Friday, September 19, 2003

US Airways did finally get back to Pennsylvania Wednesday on the state's June 11 offer to put $263.9 million toward trying to keep Pittsburgh and Philadelphia as hubs. At the same time, the airline is asking for $600 million above the state's offer, and Pittsburgh, at least, is trolling more and more actively for a successor to the money-losing airline.

Pennsylvania, led by Gov. Ed Rendell, scooped together the $263.9 million from various sources, including three southwestern counties. The package of cost concessions and airport improvements was a concrete offer to an ailing US Airways, to sweeten prospects of the airline's not packing its bags.

The initial response of the airline and its chief executive officer, David Siegel, was simply not to respond, no doubt waiting for Pennsylvania to break down and call with a better offer. Neither the state nor the counties made one, instead quietly but fairly visibly working the phones and, no doubt, even hopping some US Airways flights in quest of other airlines that might find Pittsburgh's neat airport an attractive host and partner.

After three months, the airline said Wednesday that it found the Pennsylvania offer inadequate, and that it still needed $864 million in debt payment responsibility reduction and other compensation in return for staying in Pittsburgh. The meeting ended with no statement, and, presumably, with no agreement. The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for early next month.

In the meantime, the election for Allegheny County chief executive draws nearer. Jim Roddey, the county's chief negotiator in this affair, becomes more and more on the hook for a solution to the problem.

Mr. Roddey and his opponent in the race, county Controller Dan Onorato, will no doubt be judged by much more than the US Airways affair in the voters' choice. But the negotiations with the airline, and the thousands of jobs at stake in the situation of Pittsburgh International Airport, will weigh heavily on Nov. 4.

We would say it's still US Airways' move. In the meantime, Pittsburgh's negotiators are free to move about the country, in quest of other partners.

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