BEAVER - Passengers who
travel from Beckley's airport may be catching connecting flights in a
city other than Washington D.C. following a new bidding process at the
Raleigh County Memorial Airport.
United Airlines is set to part
ways with Silver Air, a smaller air carrier that flies people between
Beckley and D.C. to their connecting United flights, according to
Airport Manager Tom Cochran.
The Department of Transportation
will soon seek bidders in hopes of continuing a seamless transition for
passengers with connecting flights. This could mean a few things: A new
carrier could begin work with United, keeping the current D.C. hub, or
another carrier could move the hub to a city like Charlotte or
Pittsburgh.
Cochran prefers a hub in D.C. where United has more
than 700 daily flights, but thinks Charlotte is also an attractive idea.
He hopes to prevent a lapse in air service until a new contract is
signed.
“It's an economic stimulus for the development of the
community to have commercial service and activity in and out, and for
the past several years, we've had connections into an international
airport, and that’s an hour away from anywhere in the world you want to
go.”
The contract between United and Silver Air is up on July 31.
If no decision has been made by that time, the DOT will ask Silver Air
to continue work with United until a resolution is passed.
If
Silver Air denies that request, commercial air traffic at the Raleigh
County Memorial Airport would cease pending a new contract.
Source: http://woay.com
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