Port authority moves toward new daily service at Youngstown-Warren Regional

VIENNA

By a 7-0 vote, the Western Reserve Port Authority on Wednesday approved the proposed start-up of daily airline service between the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport and a Midwest hub airport.

If Aerodynamics Inc. of Beachwood, Ohio, and Atlanta succeeds in getting approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation to begin the service, it will be the first daily service at the airport since 2002.

Service could begin as early as Thanksgiving, said Dan Dickten, director of aviation at the regional airport.

Daily service has been touted for several years as an economic-development tool that would allow local business travelers to connect with a hub airport where they could fly anywhere in the world.

Aerodynamics initially proposed using the Detroit International Airport, but Dickten said Wednesday the connecting airport could be “changed very easily” to another Midwestern hub once the Department of Transportation approves the company’s application to start the service.

Port authority officials are hoping that will be Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Dickten said he hopes an announcement of start-up can be made in the next month or so.

Read more about the plan in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.