American adds 5 years to deal for maintenance hangars at Pittsburgh airport

American Airlines has extended a lease for maintenance hangars at Pittsburgh International Airport, signaling that the jobs of about 1,000 former U.S. Airways workers are secure.

The Fort Worth-based airline, which merged with U.S. Airways in late 2013, said it renewed its lease on three hangars and other space at the airport for five years. The airline pays about $3 million a year to the airport under the lease, which was extended through Dec. 31, 2020.

“Pittsburgh plays an important role in our base maintenance system,” said Victoria Lupica, a spokeswoman for American. “It does signal that Pittsburgh is very important. There shouldn't be a concern there.”

Airport CEO Christina Cassotis said more leases are possible if the carrier chooses Pittsburgh as the maintenance location for next-generation aircraft it is buying.

“Three million dollars a year is significant. We wouldn't want to lose it, and it matters to us,” she said. “We'd love to do more; if there are more maintenance activities, that would be great for us.”

American, the nation's largest airline, performs maintenance on its Airbus A319, A320 and A321 aircraft in Pittsburgh. American has ordered more than 100 larger, next-generation planes from Airbus, which should begin arriving in 2017, the airline has said.

Airport spokesman Bob Kerlik said all hangars are leased. But, he said, “If any airline, including American, wanted to put additional work here, we would find a way to accommodate that.”

Lupica said American hasn't determined where it will do maintenance on the next-generation A321.

“It's not a yes or a no,” she said. “There's no plan yet.”

The future of U.S. Airways maintenance workers in Pittsburgh was called into question last year when American announced that it was closing a flight operations center in Moon. At the time, American officials said the maintenance operations would remain for at least one year, but declined to offer a longer guarantee.

Kerlik said no incentives were extended to the airline in exchange for renewing the lease.

The flight operations center, which employs about 600 workers, is slated to close later this year because American is building a center near its headquarters in Fort Worth.

Pittsburgh was once a hub for U.S. Airways. But after a pair of bankruptcies, the airline in the early 2000s slashed more than 500 daily flights, and gutted a workforce that once surpassed 12,000 people.

Alex Nixon is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7928. Staff writer Melissa Daniels contributed.