"Youngstown airport ready to add flights"

Tuesday, September 2, 2003

Youngstown airport ready to add flights 
By Mark Rollenhagen 
The Cleveland (OH) Plain Dealer


After using more than $40 million in federal money to improve runways,
expand a terminal and build a new highway interchange, Youngstown's airport
wants another $1 million to land an essential tenant - an airline. 

The airport hasn't had scheduled air service since Northwest Airlines shut
down its two turboprop flights last fall. 
   
Now, airport officials are asking the U.S. Department of Transportation for
a grant to entice Delta Air Lines to add a few flights, most likely regional
jets to shuttle travelers to the airline's hub in Cincinnati. 

The same federal program - intended to improve air service to smaller
communities - allowed the Akron-Canton Regional Airport to establish two
AirTran flights to New York earlier this year. 

Officials at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport say a grant would help
them recapture some of the Northeast Ohio market they have lost to airports
in nearby cities. 

"We're not looking for a home run," said Steve Bowser, the interim aviation
director. "A bunt single would be great." 

Delta officials did not return a phone call seeking comment, but
Youngstown-Warren's grant application includes a letter of support from the
airline. 

Twenty years ago, the airport had nonstop flights to Chicago on 737s. 

By the late 1990s, Youngstown's economic decline and changes in the airline
industry left it with a handful of turbo-prop flights, mostly to Cleveland,
Pittsburgh, and Akron. 

Travelers decided it was easier to drive to those cities and catch direct
flights to their destinations. 

But Youngstown's former aviation director, Tom Nolan, who left for a job
with Wichita's airport system earlier this year, said the booming business
at Akron-Canton shows that small airports can prosper. 

"If they can prove that the proximity of a large hub airport is not the kiss
of death, there's no reason [Youngstown-Warren] can't do the same," Nolan
said. 

Akron-Canton has been setting new passenger records monthly for more than a
year, in part because of the New York flights but also because of new
AirTran and Delta service to Atlanta and Florida. More than 100,000
travelers a month use the airport. 

Akron-Canton Airport Director Fred Krum doesn't see a threat in Youngstown's
plans. "When the economy comes back, there will be plenty of air service for
everybody," he said. 

Cleveland Port Control Director John Mok said Pittsburgh's airport would
more likely lose business than Cleveland's if Delta starts flights in
Youngstown. 

Krum agrees, and he speculated that Delta may see opportunity in cutbacks US
Airways has made at its hub in Pittsburgh. 

The New York flights at Akron-Canton have been so successful that the
airport has used less than a quarter of its $950,000 federal grant, Krum
said. The grant can be used to reimburse AirTran if it loses money on the
flights and to pay for marketing. Any unspent money will remain with the
U.S. Department of Transportation. 

Last year, the federal program - designed before Sept. 11 to help small
communities that lack adequate air service - awarded $20 million in grants
to 40 airports. Dozens of airports, including Youngstown-Warren, have
applied this summer for another round of awards. 

Except for a dozen or so times a month when charter flights take off for
Atlantic City, the terminal at Youngstown-Warren is quiet. Two rental car
agencies still operate at the south end of the one-story building but
boarding gates are locked. 

When a charter is scheduled, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration
sends a crew from Akron or Cleveland to inspect passengers and luggage. 

Nearly half of the runway traffic comes from cargo planes from the Air Force
Reserve Base at the airport's north end. The others come mostly from small
private planes and a flight school. 

The airport handles 100,000 take-offs and landings a year - about the same
as Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport. 

The plan to lure passenger flights is only the latest plan to breathe new
life into the Youngstown-Warren airport. 

Officials still hope to create a mini cargo hub like the one they dreamed of
when they made millions of dollars in improvements over the past five years.
The projects included a runway addition that gives the airport a 9,000-foot
strip - a little more than a yard longer than the longest runway at Hopkins.


A highway interchange was built near a new industrial park, as well as a
10-acre concrete pad for loading and unloading cargo jets. 

Nolan oversaw those projects before leaving to become assistant director of
airports for Wichita Airport Authority in Kansas. He said Sept. 11 and a
poor economy scuttled the lofty plans. "We were in dialogue with some
international folks just before 9/11 struck and threw the entire industry
into chaos," he said. 

At the same time, Nolan said, he was trying to attract a low-fare carrier to
Youngstown and was ready to make a pitch to Southwest Airlines after it
complained about high fees at Hopkins. 

With its location between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, the Youngstown-Warren
airport is within a 1½-hour drive of more than 6 million people, the airport
says, including many travelers who are willing to drive that far to save on
air fare. 

Nolan said the Youngstown-Warren area should be able to support four to five
daily flights to Cincinnati. 

"If one out of five travelers [from the Youngstown area] decided to use the
local airport, that is enough," he said.


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