YNG airport seeks pledges for daily flights

Staff report

BOARDMAN

The Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport has begun its Travel Bank air-service initiative for daily airline service.

Gary Wakeford, a local businessman and member of the airport’s community support group YNGAir Partners, announced the idea at Thursday’s Regional Chamber Breakfast at Mr. Anthony’s. He asked for help in bringing back daily commercial air service to the airport in Vienna.

Wakeford asked each member to make a nonbinding pledge of daily air- service dollars they would spend and asked them to help in quantifying the local travel demand.

A travel bank is a list of pledges made by local businesses and other frequent fliers stating that the entity will spend a certain amount of money annually to use specific new airline service.

“We are confident there will be daily connecting service operating from the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in the very near future,” said Dan Dickten, director of aviation.

“We are getting closer to daily connecting service coming to fruition at YNG,” he said, adding that acquiring the travel bank pledges will “take our daily service discussions with the airlines to the next level” and convince airlines of “our community’s commitment to sustaining this much- needed air service well into the future.”

“Access to viable markets, time and money are among the most critical resources for success to nearly every business,” Wakeford said. “Having a full-service airport that provides the necessary gateway in a time- and cost-efficient manner is a critical piece of the puzzle to growing and expanding the business base.”

Eric Planey, vice president of international business development with the Regional Chamber, said companies looking to invest in a region want to have the ability to move their executives and employees in and out swiftly.

Last year, the St. Cloud (Minn.) Regional Airport raised $6.2 million in pledges for a new American Eagle daily air service to Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Dickten said.

To make a pledge, visit www.yngtravelbank.com on the Internet.