May Brings New Flights, More Summer Service to PIT

May is shaping up to be a big month for new flights at Pittsburgh International Airport.

From welcoming an international airline to adding a new West Coast city and more budget-friendly choices, PIT has an exciting month in store to kick off the long-anticipated summer travels of Pittsburghers.

Airlines are gearing up for pent-up demand in the Pittsburgh region for summer travel. At PIT, total airline seat capacity is expected to increase 10.8 percent this upcoming month. Year-to-date, total seats offered by airlines at PIT are up 11.2 percent versus May 2023 and up 6.7 percent from May 2019.

Airlines add West Coast service

Breeze Airways will re-connect Pittsburgh to San Diego with nonstop, twice weekly seasonal service starting May 3.

Breeze will operate the route on Mondays and Fridays with its Airbus A220-300 aircraft through Sept. 3. Breeze—which bills itself as a “Nice Low-Cost Carrier,” offers passengers both bundled and a la carte options including Nice, Nicer and Nicest. The Nicest bundle includes two checked bags, priority boarding and Breeze Ascent, its premium inflight experience featuring 2×2 first class-style seating and complimentary snacks and beverages, including alcohol.

San Diego is Pittsburgh’s second nonstop route between PIT and Southern California. Breeze, along with Spirit Airlines, each offer nonstop service between Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.

Southwest Airlines will also offer service on the Pittsburgh-San Diego route when it begins seasonal, Saturday-only service on June 8.

In addition, Alaska Airlines will add a second daily flight to Seattle on May 16. Meanwhile, United Airlines will add a third daily flight to its Denver hub May 23, complementing its twice-daily service to San Francisco.

New international service

PIT will welcome its newest airline, Icelandair, on May 16 when the carrier begins nonstop seasonal service to Reykjavik, Iceland. Operating four times a week through late October, the 5 ½-hour nonstop flight will allow Pittsburghers to experience Iceland and its outdoor adventures, black sand beaches, awe-inspiring waterfalls and enormous glaciers.

Thanks to its ideal location, Keflavik International Airport (KEF) is one of the most popular connecting airports for travelers flying between North America and the rest of Europe. The Pittsburgh flight, which fits nicely into Icelandair’s 24-hour network, seamlessly connects to many of the airline’s 25-plus destinations across continental Europe.

Icelandair also offers a novel “stopover” option, where connecting travelers can choose to add up to a week-long layover in Iceland with no additional airfare charge before continuing to their final destination. Stopover travelers can experience everything from geothermal bathing to gazing at the northern lights.

Reykjavik is Pittsburgh’s second nonstop route to Europe alongside British Airways’ service to London Heathrow. With both routes, Pittsburgh will be connected to the other side of the Atlantic every day of the week through October.

North of the border, meanwhile, Air Canada will resume its daily service between Pittsburgh and Montreal on May 1. Montreal supplements Air Canada’s existing daily service to Toronto from PIT and provides additional connections to Air Canada’s extensive European network.

The Pittsburgh-Montreal route will be operated with Air Canada’s 76-seat Embraer E175 aircraft. Air Canada’s E175 fleet features upgraded amenities including 12 of the airline’s business class seats, onboard WiFi and personal in-flight entertainment in every seat.

Connecting more dots

Other ultra-low-cost carriers are adding multiple new routes from PIT, with several of those slated to launch in May.

Frontier Airlines will begin twice daily nonstop service to Philadelphia on May 16 as part of a four-city expansion that also includes the launch of service to Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth and Raleigh-Durham. The expansion triples Frontier’s Pittsburgh network, which also includes Denver.

Frontier, which joins American on the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia route, brings low-cost service connecting the western and eastern ends of Pennsylvania and adds an alternative to driving between the state’s two-largest population centers, both in time and cost.

Meanwhile, Spirit Airlines will begin daily, seasonal nonstop service between PIT and New York-LaGuardia Airport (LGA) on May 8, adding another affordable travel option to the New York market. The LGA flight will bolster Spirit’s Pittsburgh-New York service and provide a budget-friendly choice for travelers heading to Manhattan and areas east of New York City, such as Brooklyn, Long Island and Queens. 

Spirit also becomes the third carrier to offer nonstop service to LGA, joining American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, which offer multiple daily flights apiece.  

LaGuardia is one of three new routes Spirit will launch from PIT this summer; in June, the airline will begin flights to Boston and seasonal service to Houston-Intercontinental, each operating daily. 

Sun Country Airlines, which began service to PIT in 2022, will resume its seasonal service between Pittsburgh and Minneapolis/St. Paul on May 24. Sun Country, which operates the route alongside Delta Air Lines, provides a low-cost nonstop choice to the Twin Cities. In June, Sun Country will increase to a peak schedule of four weekly flights on the route. 

PIT is one of only 11 airports in the entire country to have scheduled service on Allegiant, Breeze, Frontier, Spirit, and Sun Country.