Altoona-Blair County Airport (KAOO) Flying Empty Planes

MARTINSBURG, BLAIR COUNTY -- We found that 9 seater-planes coming in and out of the Altoona-Blair County Airport are rarely full and sometimes don't carry anyone at all.

It's no secret that the new air service at the Altoona-Blair County Airport had trouble taking off in December.

Tracy Plessinger, Manager, Altoona-Blair County Airport, said, "Well it was a rough start during the winter. Of course we had terrible winter weather."

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, traffic at the airport has been heading on a downward trend since 2009 -- carrying less than 4,000 passengers in 2013, but officials say since switching to Sun Air Express, the flights are more reliable.

"We think that's going to grow once people have confidence and flights,” he said. “I still get calls from people saying if I book a flight is it going to go."

Explore Altoona says they're excited to see the potential these flights could bring.

Mark Ickes, Executive Director of Explore Altoona, said, "Certainly any form of transportation is important in getting visitors and outsiders into the county in order to drive visitor spending."

The airport has four round-trip flights between Pittsburgh and Altoona each weekday. The airport is part of the Essential Air Service program. EAS is a federal government program to bring service to smaller airports and it helps underwrite the costs.

"The piece of the cost that is not covered by the $29 ticket is part of the EAS program and the reimbursement the airline gets for flying the flights,” said Plessinger.

While we were there, a plane from Pittsburgh landed with no one on it.

"The flights fly on time whether there's a passenger or if there's only one or two passengers,” Plessinger said. “The flight always flies on time."

That flight turned around and went back to Pittsburgh -- again with no passengers on board. Plessinger says in order for the air carrier to get federal money, they have to fly a certain number of times per day.

"The flights go whether or not there's a passenger on that particular flight or not,” he said.

The airport says flights are reliable so now is the time to begin aggressively marketing and get people to fill those seats.

Right now -- the airport is averaging 12 passengers a day.  Officials say that is a mix of business and vacation travel, but that is not enough. In order to keep these flights in the air, they need to average 33 passengers a day. There is a two year window to make that happen -- or they could lose the federal dollars.

Original article can be found here: http://www.wearecentralpa.com