MORGANTOWN — Morgantown City Manager Kim Haws said the city’s new essential air service (EAS) carrier, SkyWest Airlines, is scheduled to land in Morgantown beginning Dec. 1.
Further, he told members of Morgantown City Council, the carrier is showing up with every intention to snap Morgantown Municipal Airport’s 13-year enplanement slump.
Haws said representatives of the city sat down with leadership from SkyWest and Visit Mountaineer Country CVB on Tuesday for a second “major” marketing meeting aimed at launching the new service.
“The airline itself has done some market research and feels that next year we won’t have any difficulty meeting the 10,000 enplanements, and I think we’ll far exceed that if our marketing plan comes into place,” Haws said.
When it comes to enplanements, or revenue passengers boarding aircraft, 10,000 is the critical number.
Hitting that mark each year releases $1 million in federal Airport Improvement Funds to the airport to be used for capital improvement projects like the runway extension currently underway at MGW.
Falling below 10,000 cuts that allocation by 80%.
Morgantown hasn’t hit the 10,000-enplanement threshold since 2011, which is part of the reason a committee of local stakeholders recently recommended the U.S. Department of Transportation award the city’s EAS contract to SkyWest over Southern Airways Express, the city’s carrier since 2016.
EAS is a federal subsidy provided directly to carriers to offset the cost of rural operations and ensure air service in smaller communities.
Haws said a primary selling point that will be pushed to the area’s large air travel users is the upgrade from Southern’s nine-passenger propeller-driven aircraft to SkyWest’s 50-passenger Bombardier CRJ200 jets.
According to SkyWest’s proposal to the U.S. DOT, the carrier will fly five round-trips weekly from Morgantown to Washington Dulles International Airport and seven round trips weekly from Morgantown to O’Hare International Airport (Chicago).
SkyWest Airlines operates through partnerships with United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
The carrier will fly in and out of Morgantown as United Express Airlines.
In other news from Tuesday’s meeting, council approved a bid to purchase 2,000 tons of bulk rock salt for winter road treatment at a cost of $72.77/ton for a total of $145,540.
The body also approved a $174,000 contract with Wolfe’s Landscapes Plus to build a second salt shed in which to store some of that salt.
Assistant City Manager Emily Muzzarelli said the new salt shed will be located in Star City on the former 84 Lumber site owned by MUB.
According to Muzzarelli, the new location will dramatically cut refill times for trucks servicing the north side of town and forced to travel to the city’s existing salt shed, located at the city’s garage off Green Bag Road.