BCT Editorial – 2/25/07

This page was last updated on February 25, 2007.

Safe landing; Editorial; Beaver County Times; February 25, 2007.

As a reminder, I didn’t believe the operations center would remain in the area. Obviously I was wrong.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“It turns out that the three most important things in real estate aren’t necessarily location, location and location at least when it came to US Airways’ decision to build a $25 million flight operations center in Moon Township. Sure location matters. The Pittsburgh center is on the East Coast, where most of the airline’s routes are located. The time-zone difference between Pittsburgh and Phoenix also came into play. The airline starts flying at around 5 a.m. on the East Coast. That’s 2 a.m. in Phoenix. But US Airways also was influenced by the incentive package put together by the state and Allegheny County and the quality of the workforce already here.”

[RWC] “The airline starts flying at around 5 a.m. on the East Coast?” The last I checked, most major airlines fly 24 x 7.

The ignorance of Times editorial authors never ceases to amaze me. Arizona is in the Mountain Time zone, not the Pacific. As a result, Phoenix is only two hours behind the East Coast, not three as the editorial states. However, because Arizona doesn’t use Daylight Saving Time, Phoenix is three hours behind the East Coast when the East Coast is on EDT.

“The center, which tracks and controls the airline’s main flights, is expected to bring at least 150 new jobs to the area as US Airways consolidates operations in one place. The facility will eventually house 600 employees and become the control center for US Airways’ 1,400 daily flights. These are quality jobs that average around $50,000 a year.”

[RWC] Didn’t we hear something similar when US Airways got the new Midfield Terminal in 1992?

As a reminder, those 150 jobs cost us $108,000 per job.

“The airline currently operates two centers, one in Phoenix and the other in Pittsburgh. Phoenix’s operation employs 150 workers and Pittsburgh’s 450. It was looking at sites in Charlotte, N.C., and Phoenix, Ariz.

“What was heartening was that Pennsylvania and Allegheny County officials didn’t get into a bidding war with the other areas. They made their best offer and stood by it. Although Charlotte officials never revealed the contents of their package, Phoenix had promised the airline incentives and tax breaks that could have saved it up to $36 million over the next 25 years. In comparison, Pittsburgh’s offer included more than $16 million in grants, tax credits and loans.

“The 450 US Airways employees who work at the flight operations center also played a role in landing this facility. The airline knew it had a quality workforce and didn’t want to disrupt that by relocating them.

“Congratulations to all involved in landing this flight operations center. The 150 new jobs it will bring are important, but not as important as the 450 jobs that will remain here. Their loss would have been a morale buster for the workers and the region.”

[RWC] After everyone is done patting themselves on the back for giving taxpayer dollars to a private company, when will it dawn on them they probably overpaid? Perhaps I got it wrong when I wrote previously “Pittsburgh is in the mix only to drive the bidding.” Perhaps US Airways never had any intention of moving the operations center and used Charlotte and Phoenix to get money out of us.