Airport Check-in: Gate closures affect shops

— -- PITTSBURGH: Closing of six gates to affect shops

Pittsburgh International plans to close about a quarter of its gates in January, and as many as six retail operations could close with them.

But Jay Kruisselbrink, an executive at BAA Pittsburgh, said the gate closures may have minimal impact, overall, on the airport's highly regarded selection of shopping and dining operations.

"We're optimistic," says Kruisselbrink, whose company is in charge of retail concessions.

The closures will be at the ends of Concourses A and B, while the bulk of the airport businesses are in the core area from which the concourses extend.

Further, the decrease in passenger traffic "is not going to be as bad as it sounds when you say they're closing 27 gates," he says. The gate closures respond to service cutbacks by US Airways.

SEOUL: Airport clubs at Incheon … golf clubs, that is

If only harried business travelers could work out their frustrations this way. American Brittany Lincicome last week won a long-drive competition by smacking a golf ball 515 yards down a runway at South Korea's Incheon airport.

Lincicome is one of the big hitters on the LPGA tour, where her drives average 270 yards. The runway contest was prelude to a more conventional skins competition that also involved Paula Creamer, Se Ri Pak and Annika Sorenstam.

When the yet-to-be-open runway gets down to the serious business of aviation, it will be the third at South Korea's largest airport.

PHOENIX: Second airport takes off

The Phoenix area recently gained commercial air service at a second airport.

Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air began scheduled flights to and from the renamed Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.

Within a few weeks, Allegiant will connect Phoenix and 13 small cities, including Stockton, Calif., and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The airport, about 30 miles southeast of giant Sky Harbor, is the former Williams Air Force Base and had been operating in recent years as Williams Gateway Airport. Its code: WGA.