After nearly an hour in executive session, members of the Benedum Airport Authority emerged with a message. And it was of a very formal variety.

 

Not only has the airport ended its association with its daily air service provider ViaAir, but today the Authority announced that all flights in and out of the North Central West Virginia through that provider will come to an end May 7. Authority member and State Senator Mike Romano read the motion following the session.

 

It was unanimously approved by the Authority, which is the governing body of the NCWV Airport. The motion directed Authority Counsel Dean Ramsey to send correspondence regarding that date. The motion also directed Ramsey to have the airline to make accommodations for those that have booked a flight after that date to receive refunds or other accommodations.

 

The motion also asks Via to make no remarks to customers placing blame on the airport for cancellations that have or will take place.

 

“They’re not accommodating to glitches that come up such as aircraft not being able to fly with replacement aircraft. Quite frankly, it’s just a failure of consideration with the contract that was entered into with (Via) because they breached it on numerous occasions by failing to fulfill their obligations to both the airport and the passengers of North Central West Virginia,” said Romano. “They left us with very little choice other than to terminate the contract and terminate their ability to fly in here.”

 

Last week, it was stated by airport officials that ViaAir would have up to 120 days before service will be terminated. However, that stance changed today and it changed with emphatic language.

 

“If well allow them to continue to fly into our airport the more passengers they would disappoint and cause significant hardship to,” said Romano.

 

Romano said the process has already begun to find a replacement. ViaAir was chosen among several that applied for the federally subsidized daily service offered through the FAA’s Essential Air Service (EAS) program. Via received more than $2 million from the FAA to provide the local service that had daily flights to Baltimore and also several weekly flights to Charlotte using a 30-seat Embraer 120 Brasilia turbo prop.

 

“We hope to have a replacement airline in here as quickly as possible,” said Romano. “There’s no way to put a definite time frame on it.”

 

Due to the NCWV Airport opting to utilize an alternative EAS program, it allows the airport to make its own contracts and pick airlines that would be interested in flying in and out of Bridgeport to connecting hubs. Not a single major airline bid on Bridgeport’s service during the last time the NCWV Airport solicited proposals.

 

Via was chosen among several smaller airlines. Its multi-hub proposal that also included extremely low fares – along with a good reliability track record – led the airport to choose ViaAir. For the first month of the service, airport officials were pleased. Then, the cancellations began and, once again, the traveling public lost faith in the daily air service provider.

 

“They really have just had dismal performance here at our airport,” said Romano.

 

So what happens for individuals that have flights booked now who are concerned about flight cancelations before May 7 or those that have flights scheduled after that date?

 

“The airport personnel will be available to help you get refunds on any of those. Certainly, after May 7, if you have a flight scheduled through Via here at (NCWV Airport), I suggest you make other accommodations.”

 

Whoever comes in as a replacement, Romano said they need to meet their end of the bargain.

 

“The key thing here is fulfilling your obligations under a contract. That’s why you have written contracts,” said Romano. “The requirements put on this airline were very specific. They’ve clearly not met those at every turn.”

 

The first month showed ViaAir have 579 passengers. That was followed by a November drop to 320, which was followed by a mild recovery in December back to 392 passengers. Then, the freefall began with just 142 passengers in January followed by 124 in February and just 128 in March. Numbers through today were not available.