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Passenger traffic soars at Youngstown-Warren airport
YOUNGSTOWN
The passenger count at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport has soared every year — from 32,794 in 2008 to 129,771 last year — after sinking to a low of 15,989 in 2003, according to numbers compiled by the Western Reserve Port Authority.
“The target is 150,000 to 160,000 this year,” which, if achieved, would be the highest number of passengers in the airport’s history, John Moliterno, authority director, told the Mahoning County commissioners.
Moliterno spoke during a Thursday staff meeting between the commissioners and their four appointees to the port authority board, which operates the airport.
“I attribute that to Allegiant Airlines coming in here and providing an affordable means of air travel,” Dan Dickten, aviation director at the airport, said of the increase in passengers in an interview. He did not attend the meeting.
Allegiant began Youngstown-Orlando, Fla., service in 2006.
Moliterno said net airport parking revenue increased 70 percent from $220,970 in 2013 to $375,882 in 2014.
Dickten attributed the increase in parking revenue to the increase in passengers using the airport.
Three years ago, the airport began directly managing its parking. Previously, a concessionaire operated airport parking services.
The airport now has 350 short-term and 198 long-term parking spaces for a total of 548.
During the Christmas and New Year holiday season, more than 500 of these spaces were filled, with only three of four Allegiant destinations being served (Orlando, St. Petersburg-Clearwater and Punta Gorda, Fla.), Moliterno told the county commissioners.
Allegiant’s Myrtle Beach, S.C., service resumes in May.
An airport parking study last year said 750 to 800 spaces will be needed this year based on current and proposed air service.
Moliterno told the commissioners that Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Las Vegas are still potential destinations for Allegiant Air flights from Youngstown.
Aerodynamics Inc., of Beachwood, Ohio, and Atlanta, has proposed daily Youngstown-to-Chicago flights. The airport hasn’t had daily passenger service since 2002.
Joining the commissioners for the meeting were their recent appointees — David Mosure, John Boccieri and Richard Edwards — and Martin Loney, who was appointed to the authority board a year ago. Edwards participated by phone, and the others appeared in person.
The Trumbull and Mahoning county commissioners each appoint half of the eight-member board.
“Our board of commissioners is very much focused on making sure there’s transparency in what goes on” at the port authority, David Ditzler, chairman of the county commissioners, told the authority board members.
“Too often, in the past, we called every board member, and no one knew that this vote was coming up. No one knew that this was being done,” Ditzler recalled.
Sarah Lown, the authority’s senior economic development manager, said the authority is working with 12 companies in its economic development efforts, four of them under agreements with the authority.
“That airport is a hidden gem to me,” Edwards said.
“We’re here to make things happen for the Valley. ... I take a lot of pride in our area, and I want to see it grow so my children and grandchildren don’t have to leave to work,” Mosure said.