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Conference to focus on airport cargo
Saturday, November 13, 1999 By Mark Belko, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
If airlines can form alliances to become more competitive, why not airports?
That thought crossed Allegheny County Aviation Director Kent George's mind not long ago. And next month Pittsburgh International Airport will take its first fledgling steps in that direction.
Airport officials will team with those from Frankfurt Airport in Germany to host an international cargo conference at the Pittsburgh Airport Marriott on Dec. 6.
George said he expects 75 to 100 people to attend the session, including representatives from US Airways, United Airlines, Lufthansa German Airlines and several other airlines. Also expected are air freight forwarders, who coordinate and consolidate cargo shipments, and companies that ship cargo.
The long-term goal of the conference, George said, is to "stop the exodus of freight out of Pittsburgh" to other airports. He said a study several years ago found that enough cargo to fill a 747 is trucked out of Pittsburgh each day bound for other airports.
"It's been the weak sister," George said of airport cargo operations. "It hasn't been addressed and it needs to be addressed appropriately."
George said there currently isn't enough service available from Pittsburgh, there is no service available direct to Europe, and there isn't reliable and consistent space available for cargo in the belly of passenger jets departing from Pittsburgh.
The immediate goals of the conference are to find out the needs of shippers, airlines and freight forwarders relating to cargo and to get them to consider Pittsburgh as a cargo hub. The county is developing a business park and air cargo center on the site of the old terminal building.
George eventually is hoping to establish a cargo link between the airport, the Frankfurt Airport and another in the Far East, perhaps Singapore. The idea is to use the links to provide high quality and consistent cargo service to any place in the world from Pittsburgh.
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