Pennsylvania’s junior senator, Dave McCormick, believes part of his portfolio is bringing jobs to Pennsylvania. In 2025, he held an Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh, announcing with President Trump $90 billion in investments in Pennsylvania. In July, McCormick held a Defense Summit at the Army War College in Carlisle to highlight defense industry jobs. President Trump attended and announced another $10 billion for Pennsylvania.

McCormick (R-Pa.) visited the American Airlines tower (not the FAA tower) at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) on Monday and spoke with American Airlines personnel, shaking hands and posing for photos. But the meeting included serious discussions about the airline’s plans to spend an undisclosed sum improving the Philly airport and hiring hundreds more people.

The air carrier is in negotiations with the City of Philadelphia and the airport for a lease deal to improve gates, increase its footprint and flights at the airport, and adding destinations. 

“What can I do to help?” McCormick asked.

Stephen Neuman, chief government affairs officer for American, asked him to put in a good word with Mayor Cherelle Parker. McCormick and Parker (D) have a friendly relationship. 

In August, American announced it will be providing nonstop flights to Iceland, Austria and Portugal by next summer. American will serve Porto and Vienna for the first time ever, while offering flights to Reykjavik for the first time since 2019, according to a spokesman. Also, American will be the only U.S. airline serving Vienna (VIE). This is part of the airline’s Central European growth, which launched this summer with new service from PHL to Prague (PRG) and Budapest, Hungary (BUD).

These flights will employ American’s new Airbus A32XKR aircraft, said Neuman. He noted the planes have a narrow body, are fuel-efficient and have long-range capabilities.

American flies to 19 overseas destinations. 

Neuman said American is bullish on Philadelphia as its gateway to Europe, and he also hopes to lure passengers who might otherwise fly out of Newark, N.J.

“We’d like to poach those Newark passengers,” Neuman said. 

McCormick, a former hedge fund and Pittsburgh software company CEO, asked about the expansion deal with the city. 

“The city will borrow [the money],” said Neuman, through issuing a government bond. American Airlines will pay the debt service. McCormick asked if taxpayer funds will be used.

“Dribs and drabs,” said Neuman. 

“We love Philadelphia,” said Neuman. “It’s a hub that works for us on the East Coast.” PHL has been an American Airlines hub since 1985 and serves more than 19 million passengers annually. Of those, 40 percent are catching other flights. 

Over the past 10 years, American has supported more than $2 billion of investment at PHL and the airline hopes to continue investing in the hub.

Cesar Marchese, American Airlines vice president for PHL hub operations, said their flight numbers have been growing 10 percent over the last 3 years. 

American flies 57 percent of all available seats across seven Pennsylvania airports, officials said. And nearly 69 percent of the flights out of PHL are American Airlines planes. It employs 10,000 people, including pilots, maintenance and customer care associates in Philadelphia. If it goes through, the new lease deal will bring hundreds more jobs to the city.

As it is now, some infrastructure at PHL needs improvement. For example, when the 50 American Airlines employees who come to work at the airline’s control tower that operates 24/7 at the Philadelphia International Airport must climb 25 flights of stairs to reach the control room because the elevator is currently out of order.

One of the employees joked to Broad + Liberty that the daily stair climb is their fitness program. Another noted the broken elevator belongs to the city, not American Airlines.

The mayor’s office did not respond when asked to comment for this article.