MARTINSBURG — Passenger numbers continue to improve thanks to the new Charlotte, N.C., route at the Altoona-Blair County Airport.

According to airport manager Tracy Plessinger, Contour Airlines carried 1,591 passengers to and from the airport in November — up 26% from October and up 134% from last year.

In his report, Plessinger noted Contour Airlines’ overall completion rate for November was 100%, marking a two-month period without any flight delays or cancellations at the airport.

“Year over year, we’re doing really well,” Plessinger said while giving his monthly report to the airport authority Wednesday.

La Fiesta’s sales were down 3% from October but up 30% from November 2023, which is “a good indication” that the business is doing well, Plessinger said.

According to Plessinger, Coffee Coop will have a trailer at the airport every weekend, beginning this week, until the business is able to open its permanent location at the airport, which is expected to open soon, he said.

Avis/Budget manager Nick Bechtel said, in terms of finances, November was “the best that we had in 2024 so far,” with 168 rentals sold.

Bechtel said the airport’s fleet number fluctuated between 35 and 40 vehicles throughout the month, with a consistent utilization rate of 97% or higher, he said.

“We’re continuing to be on the upper side of Aero’s locations as far as utilization,” Bechtel said.

Bechtel said the number of one-way rentals sold at the airport rose in November because of people returning one-way rentals to the airport.

“We still needed to use State College very frequently to get one-way vehicles down here. But where we differed from October to November is we didn’t have to shut down on one-way rentals for the majority of the month,” Bechtel said.

Contour’s service to the Charlotte Douglas International Airport continues to be “really good” for Avis/Budget, Bechtel said, noting there has been a lot more “repeat business” since the service began Oct. 1.

“We see people weekly now that are flying in and renting cars with us. That’s exactly what we need to do for an airport location,” he said.

In other business, bids to extend the airport’s stormwater drainage system into a 48-inch culvert under the state-owned Route 866 were received “well under projections,” Plessinger said.

The project, which was estimated to cost nearly $500,000, was awarded to James Excavating Inc. for $164,825.

In August, the airport authority held a special meeting to authorize the EADS Group to design the project after PennDOT officials said it was OK for the authority to extend the current drainage system underneath the county-owned Airport Entrance Road from Dowrick Drive to a culvert under Route 866.

The authority considered several options for a stormwater project to address the current drainage system that overflows during periods of heavy rainstorms and damages Airport Entrance Road, Plessinger said in August.

According to Plessinger’s report, work on the project will commence as soon as agreements with North Woodbury Township and Blair County are in place and PennDOT officials approve the project’s plan.

While there isn’t a timeline in place for the project yet, the authority OK’d its agreement with North Woodbury Township during its meeting Wednesday. A similar agreement with the county still needs to be drafted, Plessinger said, adding PennDOT officials have already stated support for the project.