Colgan Contract in Place for Blair County Airport

MARTINSBURG, BLAIR COUNTY - Colgan Air will continue to provide both the Altoona and Johnstown airports with federally subsidized passenger air service until at least July, 2010. For the people in charge of the Blair County Airport, this deal comes as very good news.

Under the terms of the agreement announced this week in Washington, Colgan Air will continue to provide the federally subsidized passenger air service for people flying in an out of the Blair County Airport. The people in charge of the airport say this is an important development because those flights will land in the Washington area at Dulles International Airport.

Commercial passengers who fly in and out of the Martinsburg Area say the ability to make good connections is one of this airports significant advantages. Another is the current price of flights. Connectivity, Good Prices and Convenience are all factors that supporters of the Blair County Airport point to when they try to encourage more business at the facility. With a deal in place to keep Colgan Air flying in and out for the next two years, airport officials say they are on track to hit some significant passenger loads.

For the first time since nine eleven the Blair County Airport could serve ten thousand passengers this year. Hitting that ten thousand number of passengers is important because under federal aviation support rules, that number of commercial travelers would enable the Blair County Airport to keep special annual subsidy payments of one million dollars from Washington.