Official: Decline in Traffic, Services Puts Penn Valley Airport on the Ropes

SELINSGROVE — After three months without a fixed-base operator and a decline in air traffic, the Penn Valley Airport faces a tenuous future.

In August, the authority ended its contract with Energy Aviation after two years of what Penn Valley Airport Authority chair Bruce Witkop called poor service following the departure of Jim Taylor. In the past two years, the public airport lost the flight school, rental aircraft and mechanics within a few months of Taylor's departure, leaving the facility with less revenue and a reduced draw for pilots.

Energy Aviation "was trying to save their way to prosperity," said Witkop. Citing reduced hours of employees, discontinued repairs to airplanes and the elimination of the flight instruction classes, Witkop said the Snyder County airport was "treated like a neglected stepchild," over the past few years.

For months, the authority tried to work with Energy Aviation, even reducing the monthly rental costs from about $6,500 to $2,400 so they could "maintain or enhance services," he said.

Still, air traffic at the airport declined about 25 percent in the past two years, airport Manager Steve Bowers said.

The authority was able to cut its ties with the Williamsport-based operator when it failed to deliver its contractual obligations, said Witkop.

Unable to attract another fixed-base operator, the authority has taken over day-to-day management. Witkop said without more funding from significant users and the nine municipal owners it will be difficult to move forward as the airport faces more than $1 million in needed facility repairs in addition to reviving services.

Bowers said the airport has hired two former Wood-Mode Inc. employees, and together they are maintaining the facility's grounds and pumping fuel.

"We are now at base-level service," said Witkop, who is appealing to Snyder and Union counties; Monroe and Penn townships, Selinsgrove, Shamokin, Middleburg, Northumberland and Sunbury to increase annual contributions. "We're a public facility and can't be expected to be self-funded."

The airport has received a total of about $28,000 a year from the governmental entities. Witkop is appealing to each to increase the contribution to ensure economic growth.

"I've asked them to give me $1 per person," he said. "If we received $128,000 we could get our nose above water and start adding services."

That would mean Snyder County's contribution would rise from $9,000 to about $40,000 in 2020, said Commissioner Joe Kantz.

"There is no question the airport is necessary," said Kantz, of the major corporations like National Beef and Weis Markets that regularly use it, as well as Geisinger's Life Flight that added a base there last spring. "I haven't gotten an update since (Energy Aviation) left. I'd like to hear from the authority directly."

"This move highlights the hard work our members have put into the airport and the upgrades we've made over the years here," Witkop said when it was announced Geisinger was moving LifeFlight 1 to Selinsgrove. "This airport is a regional asset, and for LifeFlight 1 to find its new home here, it shows we're finding ways to persevere as a small airport."

Dean Davis, chairman of the Monroe Township Board of Supervisors, said he'd also like more information about the situation the airport — which has been tax-exempt for several years — is in before increasing its contribution beyond the $4,000 the municipality is offering in 2020.

The township has also pledged $12,000 for the Snyder County Library, according to its proposed $1.28 million budget.

Witkop said he understands the position elected officials are in when deciding how to spend taxpayer money.

"They have to understand how important this airport is to the community," he said.

Without additional funding, Witkop said, the 73-year-old public airport may have to increase fees or reduce services even more.

"We have to think of ourselves as the state turnpike," Bowers said.

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