Passenger traffic at Pittsburgh International Airport declined 2.6 percent in September compared with September 2008, the Allegheny County Airport Authority reported yesterday. Passenger volume for the year is off 9.3 percent, with just more than 6 million through the gates as of the end of September. US Airways, the largest carrier, saw a 19 percent decline in September passenger volume compared with a year ago. Its share of volume fell to 27.9 percent. United Airlines, which started nonstop flights to Los Angeles and San Francisco in mid-August, posted a 12.7 percent increase for the month, the largest of eight airlines showing gains.

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Nationally, the number of scheduled domestic and international passengers on U.S. airlines in August declined by 4.1 percent from August 2008, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported yesterday. August was the 17th consecutive month with a decrease in passengers from the prior year. For the first eight months of 2009, the number of scheduled passengers on U.S. airlines declined by 7.6 percent from the same period in 2008, dropping to 478.6 million, 39.3 million fewer than a year earlier, and the lowest January-to-August total since 2004.

Cranberry discount teen retailer rue21 inc. shares rose almost 28 percent in its first day of trading on the Nasdaq market. CEO Robert Fisch ran the market's opening bell to celebrate the launch of the initial public offering. Shares started at $19, up from the $16 to $18 range set in regulatory filings. The stock closed at $24.30. Rue21 said, in its official announcement, that it had expected to receive proceeds of about $29.2 million and would use the money to repay outstanding borrowings as well as for general corporate purposes.

In it's first day of trading, discount retailer Dollar General offered 34.1 million shares priced at $21, raising $716.1 million. Investors clamored for the stock, sending shares up $1.73, or 8.2 percent, to $22.73 yesterday. Dollar General was public until 2007, when it was purchased for $6.9 billion by an investment group that included KKR, Goldman Sachs and others. Dollar General is based in Goodlettsville, Tenn.

Ross commissioners this week approved site plans for a 26,000-square-foot Crate & Barrel store to open at Ross Park Mall in November 2010 and employ about 75 people. It will be the first store in this market for the Illinois chain.

Two former employees for Bernard Madoff programmed an old IBM computer to generate false records that concealed the money manager's massive Ponzi scheme and were given hush money when they threatened to stop lying, federal prosecutors said yesterday. Jerome O'Hara, of Malverne, N.Y., and George Perez, of East Brunswick, N.J., were arrested yesterday at their homes.

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