382 miles · 0 nonstop flights today382 miles · 0 nonstop flights todayPittsburgh ⇄ Knoxville
The two cities are 382 miles apart. A nonstop would be about an hour and a half. Today every trip goes through a connecting hub. Airlines add routes when they can see the demand, so we're putting the demand in writing.
Add your pledgeThe trip today
Every itinerary routes through a hub like Charlotte, Atlanta or Chicago. Two takeoffs, two landings, a layover, and a missed connection away from a lost day.
One flight of roughly an hour and a half. Leave after breakfast, be in Knoxville or Pittsburgh by lunch.
Add your pledge
Airports win routes by showing airlines real travelers and real trips. Each pledge adds your trips to the total we hand to the air-service teams at both airports.
Why this route works
Westinghouse is headquartered north of Pittsburgh in Cranberry Township. Knoxville sits beside Oak Ridge National Laboratory and is the Tennessee Valley Authority's headquarters city. Engineers, contractors and researchers move between the two regions constantly.
Two major research university systems and two large health systems, with students, families, faculty and patients on the move all year.
McGhee Tyson is the closest major airport to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Western Pennsylvania is full of families who drive about eight hours each way to get there.
Allegiant and Southwest already operate at both PIT and TYS, with crews, gates and ticket counters in place. This is a route to add, not a new station to open.
It's been tried once
Allegiant announces twice-weekly nonstop service between Pittsburgh and Knoxville.
The first flight operates.
The route ends after one summer season, with two flights a week, before year-round business and family travel had a chance to find it.
Since then both airports have grown, Southwest has opened at Knoxville (March 2026), and the travelers on this page are the evidence the 2019 test never had.
Who decides
The Allegheny County Airport Authority's air service team pitches new routes to airlines.
The Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority's team recruits airlines and new nonstops for Knoxville.
Allegiant and Southwest planners decide where their aircraft fly. They move when the airports bring them demand and community support.
Write them yourself
Copy this, make it yours, and send it to the airports' published addresses.
info@flypittsburgh.cominfo@tys.orgSubject: Please pursue a PIT–TYS nonstop Hello, I travel between Pittsburgh and Knoxville [how often] for [business / family / school]. Every trip today connects through a hub, turning a 382-mile trip into most of a day. I would book a nonstop between PIT and TYS, and so would the people I travel with. Please make this route a priority in your conversations with Allegiant, Southwest and other carriers. I've added my pledge at the PIT–TYS campaign page so you can see the demand in one place. Thank you, [Your name] [City]