Exec: More commuter flights unlikely

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JOHNSTOWN, Oct 30, 2009 (Tribune-Democrat - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- PNCL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Pinnacle Airlines Corp. executive Philip Reed did not have an encouraging report for airport and business leaders pushing for United Express commuter service schedule changes in Johnstown.

"I think the schedule you have is the right schedule," Reed said Thursday at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport.

The airport authority presented a survey of local businesses they said showed support for an early morning departure from Johnstown and late evening arrival from Washington Dulles International Airport.

Authority member Larry Hoover, a retired United Airlines marketing manager, said the survey showed that for every 30 people who fly from Johnstown, there are 248 who drive to other airports.

Johnstown is the only airport served by Pinnacle subsidiary Colgan Air that does not have an early morning departure, Hoover said, stressing that business travelers want an early departure to connect with the first group, or bank, of connecting flights out of Washington.

But the passenger counts don't back that up, Reed said, presenting graphs and charts with a PowerPoint projector.

"The largest revenue bank out of Dulles is the No. 2 bank," he said.

The current 9:49 a.m. departure allows passengers to make those connections, Reed said.

The Johnstown-Altoona service has grown in terms of revenue per seat, Reed said.

Continued growth could reinstate an earlier flight, Reed said, but change would require an additional plane to be available. The business currently would not justify the expense.

"As the market matures more, the schedule will change," Reed said.

"How do we get the market to mature without that extra flight?" authority member Bill Polacek asked.

"Isn't this a chicken-and-egg thing?"

Reed said it would take more than a survey showing what travelers say they want. Businesses would have to guarantee riders.

Travel agent Lynn Dudish of Carlson-Wagonlit Good News Travel,

419 Lincoln St., Johnstown, said she was disappointed by Reed's report.

"The business you are losing is phenomenal," Dudish said. "They try very hard to get out of Johnstown, but if they can get out of here, they can't get back, unless they leave at the crack of dawn and get to Dulles in time to make it back to Johnstown."

About two dozen business leaders, military officers and elected officials joined authority members to present the case to Pinnacle.

A Greater Johnstown/Cambria County Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event followed in the terminal.

Ironically, Thursday's meeting was delayed for two hours because Reed's commuter flight experienced mechanical problems and was grounded at Altoona-Blair County Airport. He and other Pinnacle leaders had to drive from Martinsburg to Johnstown.

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