Yeager Airport Board Turns Down Plan For Direct Flights From Charleston to Myrtle Beach

Mar. 16--Talks about direct flights between Charleston and Myrtle Beach ended Wednesday morning when members of Yeager Airport's governing board turned down a plan to create two weekly trips during the summer.

"I think it was a wise, well reasoned decision. I think we have to look at how to deal with scheduled charters as a group because there's interest ... and the amount of money we're willing to provide for incentives for this service," said Airport Director Rick Atkinson.

Wednesday's meeting was the second time board members met to discuss Atlanta-based Aviation Advantage's plan. But, in the end, members had more concerns than kudos for the deal.

Some board members were concerned that they could be personally liable if an accident occurred, because the airport had discussed sharing the flights' profits with Aviation Advantage.

Board members also were concerned that if they gave the company the $97,600 revenue guarantee they wanted, they might have to do it for other companies interested in offering scheduled charter flights from Charleston.

The Federal Aviation Administration requires airports to treat all businesses in a user class the same, said Atkinson.

The airport's policy in the past on offering revenue guarantees has been to tell airlines it would apply for federal grant money, instead of using airport funds, he said.

Board member Jim Foster said he wasn't as enthusiastic about the plan on Wednesday as when the board met to discuss it last week. He said he would like to see money used to help business travelers as well as to bring in another low-cost carrier.

Atkinson said the board would discuss at its monthly meeting on Wednesday applying for a $500,000 grant from the FAA to help attract a direct flight to New York City. The likely airlines to provide that service would be Continental to Newark, N.J., Delta to JFK and US Airways to LaGuardia, Atkinson said.

Board member Priscilla Haden made the motion to turn down the Myrtle Beach proposal. One of her concerns was the flights could become a public relations problem for the airport because flights could be canceled if more than 50 percent of the seats weren't booked 30 days before the trip.

The flights would have lowered ticket prices to about $200 round trip. The cheapest flights over Memorial Day on United, U.S. Airways and Delta started at $445 on Wednesday afternoon, according to online ticket booking site Expedia.com.

Now, Atkinson and his staff will come up with a policy on how to handle requests from charter airlines that want to offer service out of Yeager and ask for money.

Because in today's aviation market, "no one is going to do scheduled charter in our sized market without an incentive or revenue guarantee," Atkinson said.

To contact staff writer Jennifer Ginsberg, use e-mail or call 348-5195.