Nice weather is still weeks (if not months) away, but it’s about to become easier for Pittsburghers to escape winter as more nonstop routes are returning to Pittsburgh International Airport.
Here’s what’s scheduled:
Feb. 17: Allegiant to Key West
Feb. 18: Allegiant to Jacksonville
March 10: Southwest to Dallas Love Field
March 12: Southwest to Miami, Spirit to Cancun
March 28: United to San Francisco
April 20: Spirit to Myrtle Beach, Allegiant to Destin-Fort Walton Beach
April 28: Allegiant to Myrtle Beach, Frontier to Denver
April 30: Southwest to Myrtle Beach
May 1: Air Canada to Montreal
May 20: Allegiant to Austin
June 2: Allegiant to Norfolk
June 3: British Airways to London
Many foreign travel restrictions still apply, so check before you book your flight.
According to the mobile travel app Hopper, its Consumer Airfare Index predicts that domestic airfare will increase 7% monthly through June. At the end of January, domestic airfare averaged $234 round-trip, with international airfare at a historical low at $649 round-trip.
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) records indicate that April 13, 2020, shortly after the pandemic hit the U.S., set a record low with fewer than 90,000 passengers screened that day. By Jan. 2, 2022, more than 2 million people were passing through TSA checkpoints each day.
Pittsburgh International Airport saw more than 6.3 million passengers in 2021, up 74.1 % from the prior year. It was at 65% of 2019 numbers.
The predictions of increased travel came too late to keep Contour Airlines flying out of Pittsburgh. The Tennessee-based carrier, which started service to Indianapolis and Milwaukee in October, ended the flights in January.
