By Fred Pace, HD Media
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The outlook for West Virginia’s two largest airports includes expanded services, several infrastructure projects and working to eliminate the upcoming challenges of pilot and airline worker shortage.
West Virginia International Yeager Airport in Charleston (CRW) is the busiest commercial service airport in the state.
“This year we’re trending towards over 200,000 enplanements, which is just a fancy way of saying people getting on a plane,” said Dominique Ranieri, airport director and CEO. “And that’s all thanks to the service provided by Delta, American, United and our newest entrant Breeze Airways.”
Breeze Airways is a new low-cost carrier started by David Neeleman, founder of multiple airlines including JetBlue.
“Their mission is to offer point to point service to smaller markets like ours,” Ranieri said.
The addition of Breeze Airways doubled the air service offerings from the airport and is part of a much larger mission to include more routes, Ranieri said.
CRW customer base shifts from business to leisure travel
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic the airport was primarily used to serve business travelers, Ranieri said.
“Post COVID-19, our customer base transitioned and now we have seen a shift and see primarily leisure travelers,” she said. “Studies show that visitors that fly to our state stay longer and spend more money during their stay. So, we realized that we could play a pivotal role in promoting tourism by connecting West Virginia to various domestic and international markets.”
Ranieri says the airport is encouraging the community to communicate with the airport about desired routes for travel or business as they look to expand air service.
