It might not be the best of times to lobby airlines to add service, but that's exactly what 158 airports will be doing in Pittsburgh this week at the Hilton Pittsburgh, Downtown.

The city is playing host to more than 400 people at the annual Airports Council International-North America marketing and communications conference amid desperate times in the industry.

Airlines are cutting service, scaling back expansion plans and charging fees for everything from checked baggage to window seats in an effort to cope with skyrocketing fuel prices adding billions of dollars to their costs.

Against that backdrop, representatives with airports from Monterey, Calif., to Okaloosa County, Fla., and most points in between, including Pittsburgh, will be meeting with representatives from airlines one-on-one at the conference's JumpStart program, perhaps the highlight of the four-day event, which started yesterday.

Pittsburgh International Airport spokeswoman JoAnn Jenny believes the chance to meet with airlines individually is the chief reason a record number of people are attending this year's conference.

"It's becoming more and more critical because of the conditions in the aviation industry now with airlines cutting some of their capacity and trying to cope with escalating fuel costs," she said.

Ms. Jenny said the conference may be the one chance smaller airports get to pitch service opportunities to planners for the major U.S. airlines, all of which will send representatives. In all, 28 airlines have confirmed.

"A lot of communities don't have the opportunity to travel and meet with them personally. This is their personal meeting with the airlines. They have the opportunity to present their case," she said.

Ms. Jenny doesn't view the meetings as a waste of time given the crisis in the industry. She said airlines constantly are evaluating routes and opportunities as part of their long-range planning.

Airport representatives will get a firsthand account of the toll fuel prices are exacting on the airlines this morning when Bob Fornaro, president and chief executive officer of AirTran Airways, Pittsburgh's first low-cost carrier, makes the keynote address.

The city also will host the ACI-NA annual conference and exhibition in September 2010. More than 2,000 people are expected to attend what is billed as the North American airport industry's largest annual meeting.