Pittsburgh Airport will close off a quarter of its gates

In these days of overcrowded airports and airlines fighting for gate space, here’s an anomaly: According to press reports from Pittsburgh, officials at Pittsburgh International Airport are closing off 27 gates, or about 25 percent of the airport’s total. When they say “close off,” they mean it – plans are to wall off the surplus gates, which are at the ends of Concourses A and B. Airport officials blame the decision on US Airways’ diminished presence at PIT. Once a major hub for US Airways, Pittsburgh was downgraded to a focus city as the airline kept reducing its schedule there – and those reductions are continuing. By January, US Airways’ mainline service at PIT will be down to just 22 fights a day, and its regional partners there will cut their schedules from 77 daily departures to 46.