Vindy reporter joining ADI's inaugural flight from Youngstown to Chicago

VIENNA

When the wheels on Aerodynamic’s Embraer ERJ-145 come off the runway at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport Friday morning, it will be a big moment.

But that moment will only signify even more moments – and more hard work – to come.

The airport finally will have the daily scheduled service back it lost 14 years ago.

The service happens to come back on the 75th anniversary of the airport’s dedication ceremony.

More than 30 passengers – including Vindicator reporter Kalea Hall – will be aboard the historic first flight that departs at 8:55 a.m. for Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

“It feels rewarding and a little terrifying,” said Mickey Bowman, chief operating officer for Aerodynamics or ADI.

The rewarding feeling comes after the more than two years of work it took for ADI to get to this point. The terrified feeling comes from knowing this is when the real work begins.

“It’s exciting,” said Dan Dickten, director of aviation at the airport. “Now is when the work begins. If we can’t get people to use it, then it will not sustain itself.”

When Dickten became director of aviation at the airport in 2010, there was a list of goals the Western Reserve Port Authority board, which oversees the airport, wanted to be accomplished. Two top goals were to bring back daily scheduled service to the airport and to expand Allegiant Air’s services.

Allegiant started with flights to Orlando, Fla. In 2011, flights to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and St. Petersburg, Fla., were added.

In 2013, the local airport received its fourth Allegiant flight, to Fort Myers, Fla.

From 2010 to 2014, Youngstown was the fastest-growing Allegiant community.

In 2010, the airport saw 52,526 passengers. By 2015, that total grew to 133,927 passengers.

The consistent passenger growth caught the eye of other airlines, as did the airport’s $1.2 million revenue guarantee.

“No one was coming in without having a revenue guarantee,” Dickten said.

The WRPA first reviewed a United Airlines proposal to bring scheduled daily service to the airport. But United also had a daily service startup in Topeka, Kan., which didn’t meet expectations.

“They didn’t want to have two failed startups at the same time,” Dickten said.

United backed out while ADI remained interested.

“They wanted to get into scheduled airline service,” Dickten said. “They felt like we would be a good place to start.”

Read more about the new service and how you can get tickets in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.