For those of you wondering when there would be more flights out of Bridgeport’s North Central West Virginia Airport, there’s some good news. NCWV Airport Director Rick Rock has confirmed that additional destination flights have been added and will start this year.

 

While the flights aren’t for a new destination, they are several weeks of additional flights added to the highly popular existing destination flight to Orlando-Sanford International Airport. What that means is more opportunities to fly to Florida and back than previous years.

 

“We have been given seven weeks of additional flights this year to add to our existing Thursday and Sunday flights,” said Rock. “A few of the weeks will be in April and then a few more weeks will be added to our schedule in June and July.”

 

The additional opportunities, Rock said, is likely proof that their destination partner – Allegiant Airlines – continues to be pleased with the numbers coming from the NCWV Airport. Since the Orlando flight was first announced, Allegiant has added more months to the schedule and now, several weeks of new flights on an additional day. The carrier also added – and has since expanded – a destination flight during warmer weather months to Myrtle Beach.

 

“This is a result of work with them that we do through our consultant and conversations we have face to face with them at their annual conference and conversations we regularly have with them by phone,” said Rock. “They’re pleased with our flight numbers and when you do well it’s an easier task to add to what you have and we hope it makes it easier to convince Allegiant to add more flights.

 

Part of that attempt to convince Allegiant to add flights will begin in April. Rock will attend the annual conference in Las Vegas that starts April 22. At the top of the list of things to handle are maintaining the existing services, followed by expanding on the Orlando and Myrtle Beach flights as well as potentially adding another one.

 

Once again, Rock said he’ll discuss the additional of a flight to Tampa-St. Petersburg in Florida. Not only does Allegiant have a big presence there, past flight studies have shown that the passengers from North Central West Virginia utilize other airports for flights to that region more than any other area.

 

“Will we get something? You can never tell, but I think the meetings are productive and they give us a report car, which has always been good and the meetings have always proven fruitful,” said Rock. “We’ll again present our case, show our community support and have statistics to back up what we are seeking.”

 

Rock said those statistics are a result of the community buy in of the destination flights. He said they continually remain at 90 percent.

 

“We’re not even in position to request anything if not for the community support so we’ll go back and make another pitch at options we believe the community will support and Tampa is one we believe they will support,” said Rock. “From there, they have their financial gurus go through the processes to look at if it’s feasible. Even then, there are other things that are weighed. Any type of air service to rural communities takes time and work.”

 

Rock said Allegiant may be watching the bottom line a little closer at the moment. He said they are switching out their fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-80s for Airbuses. The Airbus, he said, is a little bigger of a jet with seating for 177 passengers.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows NCWV Director Rick Rock, while an Allegiant Plane is shown loading passengers in Bridgeport in the bottom photo.