No one has to tell North Central West Virginia Airport Director Rick Rock or any members of the Benedum Airport Authority that the public is greatly interested in seeing destination service to Myrtle Beach be added to the flight service lineup at the Bridgeport facility. They hear about it all the time.

 

This afternoon, Rock told members of the Authority – the airport’s governing body – the latest on the NCWV Airport’s hopes to land service to Myrtle Beach in the future. While it wasn’t the news many have been hoping for, it also wasn’t bad news.

 

Rock has been in contact with Allegiant Airlines (the same airline providing the highly successful flights from Bridgeport to Orlando-Sanford twice weekly) about their still relatively new flight service to Myrtle Beach. The reason for that is that Rock has said the possibility of landing the service in the future is partially dependent on how well the new service is performing in their current markets.

 

“It looks like it’s going well in most markets,” said Rock.

 

While that may seem trivial, Rock said it isn’t. He said poor performance would likely signal the end of the experimental service with no possibility of getting Allegiant; a company the NCWV Airport has a solid partnership with, to provide that flight service locally.

 

“It looks to me that they’re doing very well, which is a good indicator. That’s one of the challenges Allegiant would have to overcome to have this market looked at in the future,” said Rock. “We already know that our market would support it, but they have to see what this service will do for them in other markets before it expands.

 

“Eventually, they’ll decide to grow or shrink or disappear,” Rock continued. “Early indications are that it will be headed for growth mode and if that happens we’ll do everything to be included.”

 

Rock understands the public would like to see the service sooner as opposed to later. However, he said this is a program where the benefit will come as a marathon as opposed to a sprint.

 

“So far so good because we’re right where we want them to be,” said Rock. “We have let them know that we want to grow and we have the team here to make that service work.”

 

While Rock was talking about the possibility of adding a second destination flight service, he also talked about the possibility of changing the daily flight service through the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. The EAS program is a federally subsidized program that provides dollars to airlines to subsidize flights in rural communities nationwide. Currently, Silver Airlines flying under the United banner is providing that service.

 

Although recent months have seen that service, which provides daily connecting flights to Washington’s Dulles International Airport, showing improvement, there have been rough stretches where service isn’t up to  par. Prior to today’s meeting, Rock had to deal with a passenger who was flying from Bridgeport to catch a connecting flight in Washington to Paris. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make the connection due to “mechanical problems” with the Silver flight.

 

While bids were recently submitted for another round of EAS funding, Rock said there’s another option. He said that option would provide local control.

 

“There’s an alternative EAS program out there that allows us to maybe bring that money back under local control … We’re going to explore the feasibility of entering into that to see if that could be successful,” Rock said.

 

What that means is that the airport would use the EAS dollars to charter their own flight service. The airport would be in charge of its own flight schedule as the dollars would go there as opposed to the subsidy going to the airline.

 

“We’d be remiss if we didn’t look into it and explore it,” said Authority President Ron Watson.

 

Authority member Mike Romano was for looking into the matter, but cautioned those during the discussion that the risks would be significant.

 

“We’d really have to put the pen to paper and see what the cost is and the potential for recouping those costs,” said Romano.  

 

Romano suggested a committee be formed to at least look at the option. Romano was then appointed chair of the committee by Watson and is joined by members Roger Diaz, Butch Tennant, Buck Thompson and Randy Kerns.

 

“We need to see if this is a viable option,” said Romano.

 

Rock said what may make it viable would be combining with other airports in places such as Beckley, which Rock said is considering doing the same thing. Romano and others agreed that it wouldn’t be wise to team up with airports in the immediate area, but rather those that are a distance away – including out-of-state airports to help pool the money.

 

“Now, we’re seeing examples of this. Instead of blazing a trail on our own, we have some people that are doing this and want to do this,” said Rock.

 

In other business today, the Authority heard that numbers for Allegiant’s flights between Bridgeport and Orlando continue to remain strong. He said July numbers are already over 90 percent of booking capacity. However, the most surprising news may have been about the makeup of those utilizing the flight service.

 

“Allegiant told us that roughly 40 percent of those flying are coming this way (from Florida),” said Rock. “They’re using Florida driver’s licenses.”

 

The Allegiant service, which ends August 10 and will restart in October, has helped the airport have its highest passenger totals since per 9/11. Rock told members the airport is well over 12,000 passengers and should be at 13,000 by the end of the month.

 

Rock also had additional good news. He said revenues are not only up at the airport, but the most recent fiscal year was the “best in the airport’s history.”

 

To help keep things going in a positive direction, the Authority agreed to match – as needed – up to $20,000 that the Greater Bridgeport Convention and Visitor’s Bureau has set aside for various marketing activities aimed specifically at the airport. GBCVB President Drew Pomeroy asked for the match to be considered and added that the $20,000 “is there regardless of what you decide.”

 

The Authority liked the idea of promoting the airport in conjunction with the CVB. Rock heaped praise on Pomeroy in particular and the CVB in general for playing a huge part in getting both Baylor and Texas Christian University to not only agree to use the airport to fly out of after games, but to fly into Bridgeport and use this city as its pre-game headquarters.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows NCWV Director Rick Rock, while Authority President Ron Watson is shown in the second photo. In the third picture, member Buck Thompson makes a point, while Greater Bridgeport CVB President Drew Pomeroy addresses the Authority in the bottom photo.