MARTINSBURG — Almost 9,000 people flew into and out of the Altoona-Blair County Airport in 2021, its best showing since 2009, according to airport leaders.

December also turned out to be the 2021 month with the highest ridership — 937 passengers — even though about 20% of the flights to and from the airport were canceled mostly for COVID-19-related reasons.

“We had a great year and ended very strong with a lot of holiday travel,” airport Manager Tracy Plessinger said Monday.

Those in charge of the Altoona-Blair County Airport have spent several years focused on building ridership, which began to pay off in 2017 and 2018 when passenger numbers climbed to 7,274 and 7,852, respectively, U.S. Department of Transportation records show.

But the airport’s 2019 ridership fell to 6,844, then plunged to 2,836 in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic developed and people stayed home to avoid the life-threatening virus.

Plessinger said he thought the airport’s 2021 passenger numbers are partly reflective of a renewed interest in flying.

“I think there was some pent-up demand released in 2021,” the manager said.

Plessinger also praised Boutique Air of San Francisco, which became the airport’s provider of subsidized passenger flight service in 2021. Boutique, which replaced Southern Airways, has ticketing and baggage connections in place with two major carriers, United and American airlines.

“That’s probably part of the reason for the increase in passengers,” Plessinger said. “But we’ve also had a lot of compliments about their Pilatus.”

Boutique depends on an 8-seat Pilatus PC-12 aircraft with a pressurized cabin for flights between the county airport and the Pittsburgh International and Baltimore-Washington International airports.

Under its current contract, Boutique offers 26 roundtrip flights a week for fares starting at $29.

Brian Kondrad, Boutique vice president of business operations, said his company was very pleased with its first year of serving the Altoona Blair County Airport.

“Boutique Air started Jan. 1, 2021, and by Dec. 31, 2021, we had transported 8,951 passengers in and out of Altoona,” Kondrad said. “This is the most passengers Altoona has seen since 2009.”

Plessinger, who shares monthly passenger reports with the airport authority, showed seven consecutive months when monthly passenger numbers ranged from 725 to 795, before climbing to 875 in November and 937 in December.

Part of the jump in November and December’s numbers may have been a noticeable increase in traveling collegians, not only from Penn State Altoona but also from Penn State University Park.

“Apparently, some of them are finding out that they can get a Uber ride to our airport and fly out of here for less than they would pay to fly out of University Park,” Plessinger said.

Boutique Regional Manager Ryan Case said the collegiate ridership showed up during an informal survey that Boutique conducted in November and December at the Altoona-Blair County Airport.

“We were happily surprised to see the number of college students utilizing our service with a huge bump coming from the State College area,” Case said.

Of 56 passengers responding to the November survey, about 23% identified themselves as collegians. In December, a similar survey of 65 passengers showed 35% were collegians.

In both surveys, responders were asked to report their county of residence. Results showed Blair County provided the largest amount of passengers. Centre County was identified as the second highest provider. Other passengers came from Bedford, Huntingdon and Cambria counties.

When asked about final airport destinations, respondents named Dallas, Charlotte, Chicago and Denver airports.

As for 2022, Plessinger said he expects that Boutique and the airport authority will build on 2021’s success.

“Hopefully 2022 will be even better,” he said.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.