It’s no secret that officials involved with the North Central West Virginia Airport have more than once voiced concerns about the daily flight service between Bridgeport and Washington’s Dulles International Airport that is subsidized through federal dollars. Now, those same officials are hopeful that future flight service will be improved and that a step in that direction was taken earlier this month by Airport Director Rick Rock.

 

Rock recently met with several airlines in Arkansas at an airport conference hoping to gauge interest in bidding on the service the next time that service becomes available. Rock told the Benedum Airport Authority – the airport’s governing body – during that board’s meeting today that he met with three airlines to gauge interest having them look into providing the daily service.

 

Currently, the service to Washington is provided by Silver Airlines. The contract with Silver, which is subsidized heavily through the Essential Air Service program for rural airports to connect them with larger airport hubs for connecting flights, expires Sept. 30 of 2016.

 

“We want to do this now because we’ll put the bid out in April,” said Rock.

 

Rock tested the waters at the 16^th Annual Sixel Airports Conference in Rogers, Arkansas, just over a week ago. During that time, Rock represented NCWV Airport (a Sixel Consulting client) and was able to talk directly with three airlines and felt good about the discussions.

 

“We met with American Airlines, ViaAir and SkyWest Airlines,” said Rock. “ … We’d like to see some competition for that bid. These could all be good partners for us and we have a good business case to have that type of service to a large hub.”

 

SkyWest would fly under the banner of American or Delta, said Rock. ViaAir would fly under its own banner if it chose to bid on the EAS service and was selected. The existing provider, Silver, could also bid on the service again.

 

During the same conference, Rock said he also met with Allegiant Airlines to discuss future opportunities. Currently, Allegiant has resumed twice weekly flights between Bridgeport and Orlando and recent flights to Myrtle Beach were a success. Allegiant does destination flights and would not be a candidate to provide daily flight service from Bridgeport to a major hub for connecting flights.

 

The Authority, which is chaired by Harrison County Commissioner Ron Watson, advised Rock to keep them apprised on the status of future contact involving those airlines or others as it relates to EAS. In past years, getting quality bids has been difficult not only for NCWV Airport, but other local airports – including Morgantown and Parkersburg – as well. 

 

Through September of this year, Silver - flying under the United banner - has had just 3,468 passengers. Barring a huge jump, the numbers will drop from last year's total of 5,432 and well below the most recent high of 9,680 passengers in 2010.

 

In other action today, NCWV Attorney Dean Ramsey only had a few reservations relating to a de-icing contract for the airport. At his recommendation, the contract was approved contingent upon a few modifications in the agreement.

 

Along with that, the Authority also talked in detail about meeting future security requirements as the additional traffic at the airport has led it to move up a level in classification. The Transportation Security Administration, as was recently reported, has determined that the NCWV Airport become a Level III airport as opposed to Level IV. The upgrade will lead to the need for tighter security measures and the TSA wants to see the sooner as opposed to later.

 

Authority member Randy Kerns suggested that the path to meeting those requirements begin soon. Kerns said it was imperative that the airport did what was necessary, but also not make the security so stringent that it becomes unwelcoming for visitors. Kerns was appointed as chairman of a committee to look at the needs that would include various stakeholders at the airport.

 

Editor's Note: Pictured above is NCWV Airport Counsel Dean Ramsey, while Authority member Randy Kerns is shown below.