In a move advertised as another triumph for Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell’s economic stimulus plan, Republic Airlines has agreed to establish a new overnight maintenance facility and crew base at Pittsburgh International Airport that will employ between 60 and 70 mechanics and 60 to 70 pilots and flight attendants. The $21.4 million project will help support Republic’s growing fleet of Embraer 170s, which now numbers 50 but is slated to grow to 72. The airline will lease a maintenance hangar abandoned by US Airways during its exodus from the Pittsburgh market last year. It also plans to lease 957 sq ft in the airport’s airside building as a base for pilots and flight attendants. In return for its investment, Republic received an incentive package worth $530,000 in grants, job-training funds and tax credits from the state of Pennsylvania.