Lancaster Airport Service Will Connect to Cleveland

The Lancaster Airport Authority voted Monday to switch commercial airlines to a carrier serving Cleveland, not Pittsburgh.

The authority picked RegionsAir, a Continental Airlines contractor, in favor of its carrier for the past two years, Air Midwest, a USAirways Express carrier, which flies to Pittsburgh.

While Cleveland offers connections to more cities than Pittsburgh, the main reason for the change was RegionsAir's willingness to provide service in the coming years if federal subsidies fade.

In the meantime, though, the airport authority will ask the federal Department of Transportation to subsidize the new Cleveland run.

If the Essential Air Service grant comes through, service to Cleveland will start in December.

Initially, RegionsAir had proposed service to both Newark, N.J., and Cleveland, which had local airport officials envisioning a three-fold increase in passenger traffic.

But last week RegionsAir dropped the Newark proposal, saying the heavily congested airport had no room.

Air Midwest wanted a $1.4 million annual subsidy to provide three roundtrips weekdays to Pittsburgh.

RegionsAir offered two roundtrips weekdays to Cleveland for the same amount; it would provide three roundtrips for a $2.3 million subsidy.

But the Lancaster Airport Authority, seeing that Congress might eliminate or reduce the subsidy program, wants to develop service that's not dependent on a subsidy.

"The main reason we're not going with Air Midwest is that they said they will exit once subsidies end," said Joyce Opp, the authority's finance and marketing director.

From Cleveland, passengers can connect to 74 cities; from Pittsburgh, 55. The Cleveland run also will use 30-seat planes; the Pittsburgh run uses 19-seaters.

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