Published: November 13, 2007 10:03 pm         

Airport expands passenger service

Daily flights will now offer 15 more seats

Raleigh County Memorial Airport can now handle more travelers than ever before, upgrading its passenger service from a 19-seat aircraft to a new 34-seat aircraft that will make daily connections to Washington-Dulles International Airport.

The first of the upgraded flights aboard a Saab 340 departed the airport at 6 a.m. on Tuesday. Airport Manager Tom Cochran announced the upgrade Tuesday afternoon to community and governmental leaders gathered at the airport terminal.

“This announcement impacts Beckley, Raleigh County and the region,” Cochran said. “We want to be the airport for southern West Virginia.”

Cochran and his staff worked for two years to make the upgrade a reality, ensuring the airport met Federal Aviation Administration regulations and negotiating the upgrade with regional airline Colgan Air.

“It was a team effort of everyone at the airport, working together for a good cause,” Cochran said.

Colgan Air, operating as US Airways Express, provides the three daily weekday and two daily weekend departures and arrivals. Flights leave the airport each weekday at 6 a.m., 10:30 a.m., and 2:40 p.m. Two leave each Saturday at 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. And two leave each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. and 2:40 p.m. The airport offers the same number of return flights each day.

“We’ve been working toward this for a long time,” Beckley Mayor Emmett Pugh said. “Now it’s a reality. We need the community to support this.”

If local customers support the upgraded service, Pugh said, the airport will work to make future upgrades.

“The exciting part of this expansion is that with all the new growth in the industrial park, this will be a tool to help industries decide to come to this area,” said Pat Reed, president of the Raleigh County Commission.

All commercial flights arriving and departing Raleigh County Memorial Airport will feature the 34-seat Saab 340, said Dennis Burnett, director of station operations for Colgan Air.

The airplane offers a lavatory, overhead storage and flight attendant to provide beverages and snacks.

“I think the market is going to really like the airplane,” Burnett said.

Cochran indicated that few smaller airports have the opportunity to upgrade their service, but that Beckley and Raleigh County have the development required to support such growth.

“We are getting the population base and the economic development base,” he said.

For more information, contact Raleigh County Memorial Airport at 255-0476 or US Airways at 1-800-428-4322, or go on line at www.usairways.com.

— E-mail:

bbilleter@register-herald.com