Byline: Mark Belko

Aug. 13--US Airways will end service to London and Frankfurt in November, leaving the region without one nonstop flight to Europe, as part of its latest round of cutbacks at Pittsburgh International Airport.

In all, the struggling airline, which is eliminating its Pittsburgh hub, will drop nonstop service to 20 more cities in November, including State College, Montreal, Ottawa and Portland, Maine.

The cuts are part of a US Airways plan announced in July to eliminate one-third of its flights from Pittsburgh International and reducing its one-time largest hub to a "focus city."

Earlier, the airline announced it would cut service to 16 cities between July and October, including Houston, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Memphis, Myrtle Beach, Toledo, Latrobe, Reading, South Bend and three West Virginia cities -- Beckley, Bluefield, and Huntingdon.

But the biggest blow yesterday involved the loss of London and Frankfurt flights, both of which have had tremendous symbolic and practical value to the region. The losses will make it far more difficult for local businesses with British or German ties to get overseas quickly.

US Airways spokesman David Castelveter said the Frankfurt flight, which the airline launched in 1990, was losing money and was not worth continuing, particularly with the loss of connecting traffic because of the elimination of the hub. He said US Airways relied mainly on connecting traffic to fill the planes.

The airline reinstituted the London service in May on a seasonal basis. It was scheduled to end in November for the winter, but Castelveter said it would not...