Airport mulls bid by Colgan

Move would cut flight from Saturday slate

By JOLENE CRAIG
WILLIAMSTOWN — The Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport Authority Wednesday discussed the new bid by carrier Colgan Air to continue the Essential Air Service.

The two-year bid was given to airport manager Terry Moore Monday and was the only bid placed in this latest effort for EAS, Moore said.

It includes 18 flights per week, as opposed to the current 19 flights, and a lower projected number of passengers.

The flight dropped from the schedule is one of two on Saturday, but Moore said he does not know which one.

He said Colgan has done its homework and has looked at the numbers to understand what flights are and are not needed.

In March, Colgan Air’s parent company Pinnacle Airlines Corp. announced a withdrawal of service.

The airline also announced plans to re-bid for the Essential Air Service for all 15 airports it services through the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Essential Air Service is a federal program that provides funding to airline companies that serve rural areas. Companies receive federal funding for every completed flight. The re-bidding is the company’s way of trying to get more EAS money.

“If you do the math, they want the government to give them $3.5 million for service,” Moore said. “The money is irrelevant to the (airport) because it is federal money.”

The proposal for service to Clarksburg and Morgantown is an annual subsidy of nearly $2.2 million, while service to Parkersburg is almost $3.5 million.

“It appears, the bids are less for Clarksburg and Morgantown because their enplanements are higher than ours,” Moore said.

The Wednesday meeting did not have a quorum, but there was no need because the board does not need to vote on the bid, Moore said.

This is because the EAS is provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation, which chooses the bids for the airports.

“We can send in our recommendations, but with only the one bid there’s not much for the (airport) to do with this,” Moore said. “We can’t say we don’t like it and have no service.”

The Manassas, Va.-based airline began service to the MOV Airport, Morgantown Municipal Airport and Harrison-Marion Regional Airport in Clarksburg last May, first with a code-sharing agreement with U.S. Airways to Pittsburgh International Airport and now under the United Airlines umbrella to Washington Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C.

“The board is basically satisfied with this new bid,” Moore said.

In other business, the board was presented with $10,000 from the West Virginia Aeronautics Committee for marketing purposes.

“It was given to the seven commercial airports in the state,” Moore said. “This money reinvigorates the functionality of this board.”

The MOV Airport Authority is the marketing arm of the airport while the Wood County Airport Authority is the management arm.