Airport hopes to land funds

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The director estimated it would meet the passenger milestone needed.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

VIENNA — Though low numbers of passengers in 2005 cost the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport $850,000 in Federal Aviation Administration airport improvement funding this year, the funding should be restored in 2007.

Steve Bowser, director of aviation at the local airport, said that if flights being offered to and from Sanford, Fla., by Allegiant Air and charter flights to and from Atlantic City continue at their present pace, the airport will reach an important 10,000-passenger milestone.

Bowser estimated that Allegiant Air, which started offering twice-weekly flights here May 19, will surpass the 7,000-passenger mark by year's end. The Atlantic City flights generate around 6,000 to 10,000 passengers per year, he said.

Bowser said this is the first year the airport failed to receive $1 million in Airport Improvement Program funding in many years. That is because so few passengers used the airport in 2005, when no regularly scheduled passenger airline operated at the airport.

Instead, the airport received $150,000.

Fencing project

"Fortunately we don't have a lot of major projects right now except the fence project," Bowser said, explaining that the airport is replacing all of the perimeter fencing at the facility to meet FAA standards. The project is about halfway complete and will be finished by 2008, Bowser said.

Airport officials have spent about $500,000 this year on the project, partly with leftover improvement funds from previous years. Bowser said getting the $1 million next year should allow the project to continue without any difficulty.

Overall, Bowser said, the airport is "in really good shape," so failing to get the full $1 million would not cause immediate difficulties. "Over a period of time, it would be detrimental," he added.

"The million dollars is important to infrastructure. That's why it is important to continue to try to attract regularly scheduled passenger service," Bowser said, adding that negotiations are ongoing to bring additional airlines to the airport and expand Allegiant's offerings.

Tyri Squyres, Allegiant director of corporate communications, said she did not have exact numbers of passengers who have used Allegiant flights at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, but she said the flights have been in the "mid-to-high 80s" in terms of the percentage of seats that have been booked.

"The market continues to do very well," she said. "It remains one of our best booking markets going to Orlando."

No changes are planned at this time to offer more or fewer flights than the present two per week, she said, adding that Allegiant still plans to suspend flights during the month of September and resume in October.

Squyres had previously said September is traditionally a slow travel month to Florida.

runyan@vindy.com

Tuesday, August 15, 2006