Philadelphia retains a positive outlook

Passenger traffic at Philadelphia International Airport totalled 31.83 million in 2008, ranking the airport 19th by passenger volume among US airports.

This marked a 1.2 per cent decrease on 2007 and the decline continued over the first six months of 2009 – by the end of May passenger throughput for the year had fallen by 6.7 per cent year on year, with aircraft movements down by 5.5 per cent.

"The good side of that I think is that the decline appears to have tapered off a bit," says Mark Gale, acting director of aviation. He adds that he is unsure of a significant upturn in 2010, given that major US carriers such as American, Delta and United have cut capacity and slimmed frequencies. "I'm still optimistic that 2010 will if nothing else see stability, with maybe limited growth, but I think the real increase would come later in 2010 and the beginning of 2011," he tells Jane's.

"We're always on the lookout for new carriers. US Airways is our hub carrier – they account for about 65 per cent of our business. Southwest entered the market at Philadelphia in 2004, quickly became the second-biggest carrier and now have 13 per cent. The remainder is split between Delta, Northwest, America, United and smaller airlines."

Major infrastructure improvements have been made at Philadelphia International since 2001, with more than USD1 billion invested and gate capacity boosted by 85 per cent. The 185,000 ft ² , 38-gate Terminal F – for the exclusive use of US Airways – was completed in June 2001, and the USD550 million Terminal A-West for international traffic opened in May 2003.