A dip of $8 in the average subsidy per passenger will allow the Johnstown commuter air service to continue for another year.
Airport leaders say the reprieve will allow federal Transportation Department officials to see more dramatic improvements under the operation of Boutique Air, which replaced a former commuter airline after the subsidy figures were compiled.
Boutique operates daily service from John Murtha Johnstown Cambria County Airport to Pittsburgh and Baltimore-Washington international airports.
“What the waiver does: It gives us time to see the performance of our selected airline over time,” airport authority Chairman James Loncella said. “Boutique will probably get us into a position where we could qualify for Essential Air Service subsidy without a waiver.”
Altoona’s Essential Air Service subsidy was also continued under a waiver order issued late last week, but subsidies were eliminated for airports at Hagerstown, Maryland, and Franklin-Oil City, Venango County.
All four airports were among 16 originally identified EAS airports that exceeded the subsidy cap of $200 per passenger for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2018. Hagerstown and Franklin-Oil City were also below the EAS minimum average of 10 passengers a day, the DOT order notes.
Johnstown’s average subsidy was $340 per passenger, but that was down from $348 in Fiscal Year 2017, airport Manager Thomas Keyes said. The drop allowed Johnstown to qualify under a provision that allows a waiver for airports where the 2018 average was below any one of the previous three years’ average.
“We expect that per-passenger average to fall dramatically, below $300 for Fiscal Year 2019,” Keyes said, noting that the first six months of Boutique Air service averaged $280 subsidy per passenger.
“We continue to trend down,” Keyes said.
Hagerstown Regional and Venango Regional airports are both served by Southern Air Express, which also served Johnstown until November 2018. Johnstown leaders asked the federal DOT to award the EAS contract to Boutique because of reliability issues with Southern.
“Boutique has a reputation of entering EAS markets and turning them around,” Keyes said.
In its order, the federal notes officials at both Hagerstown and Venango cited issues with Southern for the high subsidy average and low passenger counts.
“In their petitions, Franklin/Oil City and Hagerstown cite the delay of the implementation of interline agreements between their EAS carrier, Southern Airways Express, and American Airlines and Condor Airlines, as impediments in complying with the statutory eligibility criteria. Hagerstown also cites reliability problems, largely, the community argues, as a result of pilot training requirements from 2013,” the Transportation Department order reads.
“That’s very sad news that two airports lost their service,” Loncella said. “I hoped that everyone would get the waiver.”
Loncella said Johnstown leaders will continue to work with Boutique to make Johnstown’s airport the preferred point of departure and arrival for local travelers. He said the next step is to increase ridership enough to bring the average subsidy down below $200 a passenger.
“Our ultimate goal is to get us to a point where it makes sense for an air carrier to serve Johnstown without a subsidy,” Loncella said.
Loncella said Boutique’s decision this month to add five weekend round trips to its schedule is a “little taste” of that ultimate goal because the five flight are not part of the airline’s $3,163,097 federal contract.
“We actually have some flights out of Johnstown that are not subsidized,” he said.
Keyes also noted the encouraging development, along with continued growth in ridership.
“We are heading in a very positive direction,” he said.
Randy Griffith is a multimedia reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 532-5057. Follow him on Twitter @PhotoGriffer57.
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