Pittsburgh International Airport will be the headquarters of the carrier's new $25 million, 60,000-square-foot flight operations control center, which US Airways said on Wednesday will serve as the "nerve center" of its 1,400 daily flights. The city is already home to US Airways' current control center, but the carrier also considered Phoenix and Charlotte as possible locations, as Phoenix houses the operations center for America West—which US Airways merged with in 2005—and Charlotte serves as the airline's largest hub, although it does not have an operations center. "We chose Pittsburgh for a variety of reasons, including the impact of relocating experienced employees from the Pittsburgh area and the amount of value created for US Airways in the Pittsburgh proposal," said Scott Kirby, president of US Airways. "We were particularly impressed with the outstanding commitment of, and cooperation between, city, county and state officials to this project. These cooperative efforts do not occur without strong leadership." The new facilities, which will span 10 acres, will employ approximately 600 aviation professionals who will be responsible for planning, tracking and handling the carrier's flights.
