Daily flights from YNG to Chicago O’Hare to launch in May

Staff report

VIENNA

An improving economy locally and nationally provided the impetus for the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport to land daily non-stop airline service to and from here and Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

Representatives of Aerodynamics Inc. are scheduled to officially announce at a press conference March 24 that it will launch daily flights between Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, known at YNG, and Chicago O’Hare International Airport in mid- to late May using a 50-seat regional jet aircraft.

Dan Dickten, director of aviation for Youngstown-Warren Regional, declined to provide the exact flight schedule, preferring to let Aerodynamics do that. But he did say that the number of flights would increase as passenger numbers increase.

Growth is expected, he said.

Dickten said studies performed by Youngstown-Warren Regional and its consultant determined that 1,500 people were flying out of the Mahoning Valley daily but not out of Youngstown-Warren Regional.

Aerodynamics’s announcement and press conference will be conducted at the airport at a time to be determined, Dickten said in a news release.

There are more than 130 one-stop American and United airlines flights connecting domestic and international destinations from O’Hare International Airport that can be booked seamlessly from YNG, he said.

The Valley has been without daily airline service for 14 years since Northwest Airlines service to Detroit ceased operating from YNG in 2002 due to the declining economy.

“Allegiant Air, a low-frequency leisure airline, has been operating and growing very successfully at YNG since 2006. It now provides service to Orlando, St. Petersburg-Clearwater, and Punta Gorda (Ft. Meyers) in Florida and to Myrtle Beach, S.C., Dickten said.

The success of Allegiant Air service at YNG proves that the airport and the community can once again support and sustain daily airline service.

”Local travelers will no longer need to endure the long drive to other airports for their air-travel needs. Other benefits will be less hassle, convenience, cheap parking and no waste of time and gas on the road, and the ticket cost will be similar to that at the other surrounding, but farther away, airports,” Dickten said.

Youngstown-Warren Regional passenger numbers from Allegiant have surpassed the numbers produced by three daily service carriers still operating in 1998: United Airlines service to Chicago; Northwest Airlines service to Detroit; and US Airways service to Pittsburgh. All were operating smaller turbo-prop aircraft and most were not direct flights, Dickten said.