Airport: The fallout

By CHARLES OWENS
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

November 13, 2007 09:09 pm

— BLUEFIELD — Fallout from the loss of commercial air service at the Mercer County Airport continues to reverberate across the region.
During a meeting with the Daily Telegraph editorial board Monday, U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said local opportunities were missed. For example, Rockefeller said the Mercer County Airport was the only facility in West Virginia that did not apply for a Small Communities Air Service Grant fund.
However, Airport Authority President Charlie Peters said the grant Rockefeller was talking about had nothing to do with Essential Air Service. “What we did is what we’ve always done — we’ve worked with his (Rockefeller’s) office and there was no comments from his office,” Peters said. “The grant doesn’t apply to Essential Air Service. The grant he was talking about was for maintenance, and things to be done at the airport, and not a part of the essential air.”
Rockefeller said Mercer County officials also failed to respond to a Department of Transportation report in 2005 that indicated airports in Bluefield and Beckley would no longer be eligible to receive an Essential Air Service federal subsidy because of their proximity to hub airports. While Beckley challenged the ruling and ultimately won, Rockefeller said DOT records showed no correspondence from Bluefield.
“We at the airport have done everything we can to get the subsidy,” Peters said. “We haven’t just sit here like he said and done nothing.”
Joe Coburn, president of the Mercer County Commission, said he is unaware of the missed opportunities mentioned by Rockefeller.
“I thought Mercer County made a very strong pitch to keep the subsidy here, and to keep Colgan (Air) here,” Coburn said. “As far as any missed opportunities, I don’t have any knowledge about that. We are just going to keep working to try to get it (the subsidy). We are going to keep working with our congressmen and senators, and see what can be done.”
Area business leaders fear the loss of commercial air service will hurt the region.
“It’s a sad day when you lose your commercial air service,” local attorney Norris Kantor said. “The problem is unless you are truly familiar with all of those rules and regulations, it is hard to get an opinion on whether you can prevail. I guess from reading between the lines, and what appears to be coming from our congressional delegation, it is going to be very difficult.”
Kantor said the Mercer County Airport can be successfully marketed as a general aviation facility. However, Kantor said officials may need to consider hiring a Mercer County Administrator — a position the region hasn’t had for years — in order to search for new grant dollars for the airport.
“I suspect they are going to also need — the county and the airport authority — an individual on board who is thoroughly knowledgeable in obtaining grants,” Kantor said. “If you are really going to make this general aviation, or try to make it a general aviation hub, that is something they are going to have to work on. It may be that Mercer needs a county administrator. This may be a hurdle we will have to overcome. Because there are individuals who are trained and knowledgeable in getting grants. But you’ve got to get them on the payroll. It’s going to take someone like that to make it a very viable general aviation hub.”
“It’s a dark day for southern West Virginia and Southwest Virginia,” Bill Cole, owner of Cole Honda-Nissan in Green Valley, added. “The airport is certainly an important aspect of economic development in that new investment will tend to consider whether an airport has commercial air service as one of the important aspects of whether they choose to come and do business. The bright spot is we still have a wonderful general aviation facility. Certainly, I have depended upon commercial air service at the Bluefield airport in support of my local business activities. Sometimes we don’t appreciate what we have until we’ve lost it. It would be my hope that sometime in the future we can encourage a commercial carrier to once again serve our area perhaps connecting to a valuable hub like Charlotte.”
Colgan Air informed the Mercer County Airport Authority in mid-August that it would cease air service in Bluefield on Nov. 12. The company cited in a letter to the authority that it planned to replace the Beech 1900 with a larger Saab-340. However, Peters said the Mercer County Airport can handle the larger aircraft.
“That jet can land at the Mercer County Airport safely with the airport the way it is today,” Peters said. “We are in the process of spending about $3 million to extend the runway 300 feet on each end. So if you have those it will be absolutely safe under any and all conditions.”
As a general aviation facility, Peters said officials will continue to upgrade and maintain the airport in hopes of restoring commercial air service. Peters said private planes and jets will continue to fly in and out of Mercer County. The only difference is commercial air service, or a commercial air carrier, will not be available.
Peters said the fight to restore the federal subsidy continues — with or without help from lawmakers in Washington.
“We are going to do that despite what he (Rockefeller) says,” Peters said. “But I don’t think we can get anything without their help.”
— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com