UPDATE: The announcement came today, Thursday, August 17. CLICK HERE for the press release from SkyWest.

 

ORIGINAL: An announcement regarding flight schedules and fares for the soon-to-begin daily flight service at the North Central West Virginia Airport could happen in the next several days or within the next several weeks, officials say.

 

The comments came at today’s meeting of the Benedum Airport Authority, the governing body of the airport. Authority President Ron Watson said to expect “an announcement soon” and the words possibly “next week” were uttered by more than one member of the board.

 

What that means is those who still want to use daily flight service will soon now the schedule of SkyWest, which flies under the United Airlines banner. Not only will SkyWest be providing jet service as opposed to prop service, but doing so under the United banner (United Express) means that individuals can book their connecting flights to either the hub of Chicago or Washington, D.C. as opposed to having to book separate connecting flights.

 

Watson said work was being done on the NCWV Airport’s Web site as well as that of SkyWest to get schedules ready. That was when Watson, Rock and others began discussion on the possibility of an announcement in the days ahead.

 

“Any time schedules are loaded there are bound to be glitches. The schedules initially presented to us we felt they could be improved and SkyWest was very helpful to us to try to get the market that will help us generate traffic … We know we have the background of not performing the way we want so I’m placing a lot of faith into this service and what it will mean to our entire region,” said Rock. “We want to make sure we do this right the first time and not turn off any potential passengers who see something that’s incorrect.”

 

Rock said word will be provided as soon as all parties are comfortable with the schedules. The schedules will announce the days and times SkyWest will fly their 12 weekly departures to the hubs of Washington Dulles (IAD) and Chicago O’Hare (ORD) operating under the United Express designation. SkyWest will use Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) 50-seat aircraft on their flights to and from Bridgeport.

 

Considering the hubs are located in two of the nation’s largest cities, the Authority knows many individuals will be taking direct flights to and from those locations for trips as opposed to using them for connecting flights. Because of that, there’s been interest as to what the fares would be for a one-way flight. Rock said that’s not finalized, but he also wasn’t afraid to provide an educated guess.

 

“I would anticipate, based on their bid, an average one-way fare of $80, which I think is very reasonable,” said Rock. “To put that in perspective, when I first started this job we were looking at $276 one-way fare to Dulles under Colgan and Silver … All we want is a service that’s reliable with pricing that’s competitive.”

 

Rock knows the airport has to gain the public’s confidence on daily flight service. The previous service, through ViaAir, was nothing short of a disaster after the first month of service and eventually led to the airport terminating their Essential Air Service contract with Via.

 

As part of the strategy, the airport approved a six-figure marketing campaign. The Authority agreed to spend $100,000 over a 12-month period for the purpose of marketing SkyWest’s new daily service that is anticipated to begin in November.

 

“We absolutely believe we have a winner and we believe we have the partner we’ve been looking for and we want to get the word out to everybody to try and maximize the o and d (origin and destination) traffic as possible,” said Rock. “ … We know we have to build our brand and confidence in what we’re providing.”

 

ViaAir was awarded $2 million through the FAA’s Essential Air Service (EAS) program that aids rural communities to receive flight service. Money not paid to ViaAir was used in the bidding process that eventually landed SkyWest.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Authority members, from left, David Hinkle, Ron Watson and Ernie VanGilder listening to discussion on SkyWest, while Airport Director Rick Rock provides additional information. Bottom photo is of a SkyWest Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) 50-seat aircraft. Bottom photo taken from SkyWest Web site.