Three years ago, North Central West Virginia Airport Director Rick Rock and Benedum Airport Authority President Ron Watson and other airport officials were all smiles as they were part of a large contingent on hand to announce a destination flight by Allegiant Airlines between Bridgeport and Orlando. Yet, as the pair made their remarks, they also offered some prophetic words.

 

Both men, intimately tied to the recent success of the airport, pointed out that if the flight was to continue, expand and even lead to new opportunities, the community would have to embrace it. Since that time, two things have happened.

 

The community has embraced the Orlando flight. Second, because of that, the promised additional opportunities have arrived.

 

The Orlando flight is almost always at capacity and has been renewed at every opportunity.  The airport also added a summer destination flight to Myrtle Beach last year and, because of its success, the summer period has been extended from the start of June to Sept. 30.

 

This past week, at Allegiant’s annual conference, Rock formally made the request for the next destination flight. Whether that happens remains to be seen, but the presentation was made at Allegiant’s base of operations in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area and the request was for a flight to that area.

 

“We put together a business case for the flight and they’re familiar with our market,” said Rock. “We tried to show them why we think that adding that flight is the next progression in what’s become a very successful relationship.

 

“When we met with them, we know that airlines are low risk takers and even with our success the concern is can a new flight be supported by additional traffic. With our airport having an awareness in our region that’s at an all-time high, we tried to sell them on the fact that this is another opportunity,” he continued. “We had some things working in our favor in our presentation, but we also know this is a highly competitive industry.”

 

The competition is indeed rough. On the destination flight service alone, Rock said NCWV Airport and Bridgeport is competing against 114 other cities. Even so, he said the meeting that involved Rock and Mike Mooney (with the Airport’s consultant Sixel) meeting with top Allegiant officials.

 

“This was us and them; one-on-one. They know we have a great team and we’ve delivered results, which is one of the thing we felt worked in our favor,” said Rock. “The other thing is that as strong as Orlando and Myrtle Beach have been for us and Allegiant, in our true market study, it’s the Tampa area that would be the most highly traveled market from our catch area of potential passengers. They won’t tell you anything after a meeting like that and you may not hear anything for months, good or bad, but we walked out feeling very good about our presentation.”

 

While some may believe that’s hyperbole on Rock’s part, he’s said those words in the past after meeting with Allegiant. To date, those meetings have turned out well.

 

If the flight comes, residents would be flying from Bridgeport into St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport. Rock said he thinks it would definitely be a success.

 

“Along with the market study showing this area would support it, everyone involved with the airport hear people telling us they want this flight constantly,” said Rock. “We know it can be a success.”

 

Another thing that bodes well for the possibility of a future added flight is that during the conference, Rock didn’t just give a presentation. He also got feedback from Allegiant officials on how they believe the NCWV Airport is handling existing flights.

 

“They gave us an assessment of the job we’re doing and told us some ways we can improve what we’re already doing. Overall, they’re happy with what we’re doing and they’re really happy with our numbers at our costs,” said Rock. “Our costs are ranked at No. 10 out of 114, which is pretty impressive considering that we’re definitely one of the smallest markets and airports they deal with and we’re producing big numbers. Basically, they’re happy with us and it was a positive experience.”

 

At the worst, Rock said he feels confident that the airport will maintain its existing destination flights. He said even if Tampa-St. Petersburg isn’t added in the future that discussion was also held on making Orlando a year-round service by eliminating the break that comes at the end of summer for a couple of months. He also said talk on once again extending Myrtle Beach was held.

 

So can any of this happen in reality? Again, Rock said it’s all possible and that the region plays a big part.

 

“We need the community to continue to support our existing flights. If it continues, the possibilities for everything increases,” Rock said.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Rock at last week's Allegiant Conference, while an Allegiant plane is shown coming into NCWV Airport. Bottom photo shows Airport Authority president Ron Watson, foreground far riight, with, from left, fellow Authority member Mike Romano and Butch Tennant at the initial Orlando Announcement.