Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Moving ahead, cooperation between the two airports in Huntington and Charleston is crucial to improving and maintaining service due to their close proximity. It will also be interesting to see how the airlines phasing out the smaller planes will effect WV. Many of the smaller airports use smaller planes and without them, they may have no service at all. This may cost WV many of its airports and jobs along with it.
Small Jets and Small Airports Being Phased Out - weather.com (http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/airlines-phasing-out-smaller-jets_2011-11-26 - broken link)
NCWV Airport just picked up flights to Orlando. In reality, our airports here are sattelite airports from Pittsburgh so I think the model they use in the NYC area would work well (Stewart, Westchester, Hartford)... niche flights at cheap prices that draw customers even from Pittsburgh. It has worked at other large cities.
Huntington and Charleston essentially are the only airport ballgames in that entire region. It's a good idea to develop that potential to the max, and a bit of cooperation between them would probably benefit everyone.
Morgantown now only servers Orlando and Dulles right?
Moving ahead, cooperation between the two airports in Huntington and Charleston is crucial to improving and maintaining service due to their close proximity. It will also be interesting to see how the airlines phasing out the smaller planes will effect WV. Many of the smaller airports use smaller planes and without them, they may have no service at all. This may cost WV many of its airports and jobs along with it.
Small Jets and Small Airports Being Phased Out - weather.com (http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/airlines-phasing-out-smaller-jets_2011-11-26 - broken link)
You could be right, but what I saw living in the northern NYC suburbs for years was airports with many specialty flights by slightly off brand airlines with cheap prices. That way they could actually draw from the nearby large city even though the airports were not the most convenient to the population. Flights to Las Vegas that are only available at the suburban airports for $99 for example. Drawing from the larger population center would make use of the larger planes worthwhile.
Also, the fact that the main airlines are phasing out smaller aircraft does not take away from the "Express" offshoot airlines. The smaller markets could still be serviced with smaller aircraft with the commuter airlines. I do remember though when we had plenty of commercial flights in Wheeling right up to the late 70s, but improved highway access to Pittsburgh did away with them. A 40 minute drive to the Pittsburgh IAP with their gazillion daily flights, and numerous direct flights made it not worthwhile to fly out of the smaller venue.
Morgantown now only servers Orlando and Dulles right?
North-Central West Virginia Airport is in Clarksburg. It currently has flights back and forth to DC and is the one that will be picking up Orlando. The airport in Morgantown is Morgantown Municipal Airport. It flies exclusively to IAD.
EDIT:
Quote:
Originally Posted by tbailey1138
Only Dulles actually. The Orlando flight CT was talking about is out of Clarksburg.
That is correct, but they will be extending the runway to over 7,000 feet. At that time, it is likely more flights will be added. As I said before, if they follow the pattern they will be specialty flights to places like vacation areas, Las Vegas, Myrtle Beach, etc. but I don't expect they would be the same areas as similar flights leaving Clarksburg.
That is correct, but they will be extending the runway to over 7,000 feet. At that time, it is likely more flights will be added. As I said before, if they follow the pattern they will be specialty flights to places like vacation areas, Las Vegas, Myrtle Beach, etc. but I don't expect they would be the same areas as similar flights leaving Clarksburg.
Morgantown airport doesnt really need much expansion. The area is served by Pittsburgh, which is a great domestic airport and only slightly more than an hour away. Parking near the gate that is cheap, short lines, quick and helpful staff. Go to an airport like Dulles, O'Hare, Miami, Newark, that god awful airport in Boston whose name I forget, and you will see how convenient Pittsburgh is. Morgantown really cant compete with Pittsburgh.
I imagine the situation is the same in Martinsburg with Dulles or Reagan. Sure it probably has an airport, but it doesnt need a big one.
Huntington, Clarksburg, and especially Charleston are not so close to major cities. It makes more sense to build bigger airports in them. I am not an expert on Charleston and Huntington, but it seems more practical to build one large airport between both of them that could service them both. I guess with these new improvements that idea is less practical, but it seems like it would have been a better idea at the beginning.
Morgantown airport doesnt really need much expansion. The area is served by Pittsburgh, which is a great domestic airport and only slightly more than an hour away. Parking near the gate that is cheap, short lines, quick and helpful staff. Go to an airport like Dulles, O'Hare, Miami, Newark, that god awful airport in Boston whose name I forget, and you will see how convenient Pittsburgh is. Morgantown really cant compete with Pittsburgh.
I imagine the situation is the same in Martinsburg with Dulles or Reagan. Sure it probably has an airport, but it doesnt need a big one.
Huntington, Clarksburg, and especially Charleston are not so close to major cities. It makes more sense to build bigger airports in them. I am not an expert on Charleston and Huntington, but it seems more practical to build one large airport between both of them that could service them both. I guess with these new improvements that idea is less practical, but it seems like it would have been a better idea at the beginning.
Clarksburg/Morgantown can fairly easily use Pittsburgh, that's true, but I don't expect that the flights will be in direct competition with Pittsburgh flights. Generally peripheral airports near major cities have discounted fares to places that are common vacation destinations... Florida, South Carolina, Las Vegas, etc. and actually attract passengers from the larger cities. It really isn't that far for a Pittsburger to come to Morgantown to save $500 on a flight either... that's how it works.
I'm just fed up with WV not having a decent sized airport. I've flown out of both Huntington and Charleston... and I would not even consider any other airport in WV. Too small and the runways aren't long enough for the types of flights I usually fly. This past October when I flew back East I flew into and out of Pittsburgh because I absolutely dread connecting and switching flights. So on the way back I literally had to leave my parents house by like 3:30 just to get to my flight on time in Pittsburgh by 7 AM. Ridiculous... As everyone knows my opinion on this... but to reiterate it. Yeager and Tri-State should have been combined decades ago which would have led to a larger customer base with more direct flights into and out of West Virginia. If WV wants to grow and have more jobs for younger people... I'm sorry, it's going to have to open up more to the rest of the country and world.
I'm just fed up with WV not having a decent sized airport. I've flown out of both Huntington and Charleston... and I would not even consider any other airport in WV. Too small and the runways aren't long enough for the types of flights I usually fly. This past October when I flew back East I flew into and out of Pittsburgh because I absolutely dread connecting and switching flights. So on the way back I literally had to leave my parents house by like 3:30 just to get to my flight on time in Pittsburgh by 7 AM. Ridiculous... As everyone knows my opinion on this... but to reiterate it. Yeager and Tri-State should have been combined decades ago which would have led to a larger customer base with more direct flights into and out of West Virginia. If WV wants to grow and have more jobs for younger people... I'm sorry, it's going to have to open up more to the rest of the country and world.
Agree 100%
Charleston and Huntington should have one good size airport that cannot only support the two cities, but most of the state and tri state area. I love Yeager airport, so I guess all I can do now is push for forward progress there. Which of course Yeager airport is seeing a huge passenger increase, and has modernized and expanded all of its facilities. They could actually use an expansion of the terminal area and maybe a few new gates.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
LOL
