American airlines adds flights to Chicago

News added by Mark Benson under Airline News

Down more than 10,000 passengers this year compared to 2008, the announcement of two additional daily flights to Chicago came at the right time for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport.

The new flights will be created as part of the nationwide restructuring of American Airlines and its regional carrier, American Eagle, said Barry Centini, airport director, Thursday.

He announced the flights at the end of the monthly meeting of the airport’s bi-county board of commissioners of Lackawanna and Luzerne counties.

Already United Express has two daily flights to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. “This will get us up to four,” Centini said.

The announcement coincided with news that AMR Corp, the parent company of American Airlines and American Eagle secured $2.9 billion in cash and financing to carry out a network restructuring. Unprofitable routes will be eliminated and resources will be reallocated to hubs in Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago, Miami and New York. Airports in Allentown, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh also will be added to those feeding the Chicago hub, according to a press release from AMR Corp., the parent of American Airlines and American Eagle.

Through August, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is down 10,002 passengers compared to the number of people boarding aircraft for the year-earlier period. This year there were 142,416 boarding passengers compared to 152,418 in 2008, a 6.5 percent decrease. The month-to-month comparison showed a 7.4 percent drop to 18,729 from 20,227 in August 2008. Since January, the airport has reported eight straight months of declines in year-to-year comparisons. The loss of the airport’s only nonstop flight to Atlanta last month hurt. Delta Airlines eliminated its Comair regional service, saying it was losing money on the flight.

Centini said he did not know when the new flights would begin, but suspected they would be 50-seat commuter jets. The airport has offered to pay for some marketing and fees “to get them started,” Centini said.

He welcomed American Airlines’ return. The airline served the airport at its inauguration in 1947, he said and referred to memorabilia display in the terminal that had photographs of an American Airlines plane. “They were here,” he said. “So it’s great news to get them back after this long layoff.”

Centini said the airport approached American Airlines about initiating service. The United Express flights to Chicago are well booked and he said, “We think that the four flights are going to do very well.”

The new flights could add 3,000 more seats a month. “It’s a great destination. We’re into the American system, which is a big, big plus for us and hopefully the community supports it,” Centini said.

He also announced the airport received federal and state grants for rehabilitation of the parking apron adjacent to the old terminal and for general aviation operations at the airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration provided $1,296,300 to cover 95 percent of the costs. A PennDOT Bureau of Aviation grant worth $36,789 will pay for another 2.5 percent of the project costs.

The airport must make up the remainder.It also will have to pay $58,182 for a wildlife hazard assessment required by the FAA. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspector Services-Wildlife Services will prepare the assessment.

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