There was a new daily air service provider put into place. Destination flights to Myrtle Beach and Orlando were extended and, largely because of those, the numbers of enplanements were up once again at the North Central West Virginia Airport.

 

During a recent meeting of the Benedum Airport Authority, NCWV Airport Director Rick Rock released the total number of people that flew out of the facility during the calendar year of 2016. The total was 26,259.

 

“The numbers are up from the previous year and that comes during a time where we switched our daily air service provider,” Rock told the Authority, which is the governing body of the airport.

 

In 2015, the airport had 25,326 passengers. What that means is that the airport had nearly 1,000 more passengers in 2016 as opposed to 2014 – or 933 to be exact.

 

The destination flights handled by Allegiant once again provided the bulk of the numbers. In fact, the two flights to popular vacation areas resulted in 17,752 individuals flying out of Bridgeport, up from the 16,350 last year. That is an increase of 1,402 passengers.

 

However, the daily subsidized flight service that started in 2016 with Silver Airlines and switched in October to ViaAir saw a drop. In 2015, there were 4,897 passengers that utilized the service that took passengers by Silver to Washington, Dulles International Airport to 4,158 in 2016 – a drop of 739 passengers.

 

The new service by ViaAir takes travelers daily to Baltimore-Washington International Airport. There are also several flights each week to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.

 

While the new service to a major hub is much cheaper than the flights offered by Silver, ViaAir has experienced some scheduling issues that once again has caused angst among the traveling public. Part of the reason for the drop in numbers for daily flights was due to continued cancellations and delays by Silver. However, after a quick start, Via also ran into issues that airport officials believe are finally being worked out.

 

“We’re working on that,” said Authority President and Harrison County Commissioner Ron Watson. “We want it to go smoothly and want to make sure Via is making progress in that area, but we realize there isn’t an airport that doesn’t experience the same issues we’re experiencing. We still want it addressed.”

 

Rock agreed with that assessment from the Jan. 18 meeting. He said the airport is working with ViaAir to make sure travelers will soon have the reliability they deserve.

 

“It’s getting there. There’s a plan in place with them to get to where we need to be,” said Rock. “The key part that will eventually make this work smoothly will come as they’re planning on buying additional assets in the form of new aircraft. They’re experiencing growing pains, but our first priority is our passengers and we need to see more reliability and we’re seeing that. Once they have the new planes, I think you’ll definitely see it.

 

“We’re working hard with them because the dual hubs to Balitmore and Charlotte is a great option, but you have to have the flights working to make that great,” he continued. “Like a lot of good things, we’re in a marathon and not a sprint.”

 

The airport’s other flight data for 2016 was fairly consistent. Charter flights, which are primarily those utilized by West Virginia University for athletic, was slight up to 3,995 passengers from 3,700 (increase of 295), while those listed under “other” were down by 25.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo show NCWV Director Rick Rock, while a ViaAir plane sits on the runway in Bridgeport.