MARTINSBURG — The Altoona-Blair County Airport’s numbers were all looking good for April, airport manager Tracy Plessinger said, with Contour Airlines’ overall completion rate for the month at 100%.

During Wednesday’s airport authority board meeting, Plessinger said Contour carried 2,032 passengers outbound and inbound during April.

Looking toward the summer, Plessinger said the airline hasn’t yet told him anything about a potential uptick in reservations for the week of July 8, when Union Pacific Railroad’s “Big Boy” steam engine will pass through Blair County.

“I’ll check with them (Contour officials) and see if they’re seeing any uptick the week before or that week, but it’s a really big deal,” Plessinger said of the locomotive’s planned stop in Altoona.

When asked by board member Adam Ward on whether he’s been in contact with officials from the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe regarding Spirit Airlines’ closure, Plessinger said he has not heard from anyone there directly.

“I know they’re laying off a bunch of people,” Plessinger said, adding he’s followed news reports about the airline’s closure.

The loss of Spirit Airlines hasn’t caused any noticeable increase in reservations at the Blair County airport, he said.

“I suppose there could be people who are flying here because of that, but they’re not calling Contour and saying, ‘Hey, Spirit left, so we’re coming there to fly,'” Plessinger said. “We may see some carryover from that, but we just don’t know for sure right now if that’s happening or not.”

La Fiesta sales up

The airport’s eatery, La Fiesta, reported that sales for April were up 7% from March and up 11% year-over-year, Plessinger said. Coffee Coop’s sales were up 30% from March and up 17% from April 2025, he added.

Avis/Budget sales for April were down 5% from March but up 6% from April 2025, Plessinger said.

During Wednesday’s meeting, the airport authority renewed its lease agreement with Aero Corp. for continued Avis/Budget operations at the airport.

According to Plessinger, the renewal is “basically the same agreement we had” except the out is a 90-day notice instead of 30 days.

“I asked for that because, if anything went south, it just doesn’t give us time to do anything,” Plessinger told the board. “It’s basically a good agreement.”

In his report, Avis/Budget Manager Nick Bechtel said April was a solid month with a total of 177 rentals sold.

Year-over-year, airport officials have seen an increase in rentals picked up and returned at the airport, Bechtel said.

Pending the approval from Avis/Budget Group, Aero will keep the Altoona-Blair County Airport as a premier location, Bechtel said, adding Aero’s fleet manager told him they plan to send 30 to 40 new vehicles to add to the airport’s existing fleet, including a wider variety of vehicles.

The board also approved a motion to advertise bids for the first-floor restroom remodeling project in the terminal.

Plessinger said bids are scheduled to open Friday, June 5, which will allow the board to award a bid at its next regular June 10 meeting.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.