MARTINSBURG — Although the Altoona-Blair County Airport’s passenger numbers were down 12% from January, the airport’s year-over-year passenger numbers continue to soar since its Contour Airlines jet service switched routes to Charlotte in October 2024.

Contour Airlines carried 1,254 passengers to and from the airport in February, a 279% year-over-year increase from February 2024, continuing the five-month trend of growth for the airport, said airport manager Tracy Plessinger.

October 2024’s passenger number showed a 51% increase from October 2023; November 2024 had an increase of 134%; December 2024, 241%; January’s numbers were up 262% from 2024, Plessinger said.

During Plessinger’s report to the airport authority board Wednesday, he said the 12% decrease from last month was to be expected as February is traditionally the month with the lowest number of travelers for the airport.

“You can see the numbers there. Contour continues to do well,” Plessinger said. “The bottom line is, we’re up substantially to 279% and every month we increase a little bit more.”

Nearly every parking space in the airport’s lot was full Wednesday prior to the meeting, which Plessinger said is a “good example of a good problem” for the airport to have.

“That’s a case where our increased passenger loads are giving us a high-end problem,” he said, noting almost everybody who flies out of the airport mentions free parking as one of its many benefits.

Plessinger said the parking concern is likely going to be addressed in the airport’s master plan, a long-range planning project officials are currently developing.

La Fiesta’s sales for February were up 4% from January and up 5% from February 2024, according to Plessinger.

Coffee Coop, which opened in February for its first partial month at the airport, has been well received by customers taking early-morning flights, Plessinger said, adding La Fiesta employees often buy food from Coffee Coop before opening the restaurant upstairs.

Coffee Coop reportedly made $1,600 in sales in February, according to Plessinger, who noted the airport receives 15% of the shop’s sales per a lease agreement contract with the airport.

“People seem to really like it,” Plessinger said of Coffee Coop, adding TSA and airport employees also make purchases from the first-floor coffee and breakfast sandwich shop.

February was another “solid” month for rental car sales, with a 31% year-over-year revenue increase at the airport, according to Avis/Budget manager Nick Bechtel.

Even though Avis/Budget had a 15% decrease in sales from last month, the growth was still encouraging since February is also the slowest month of the year for the rental car operations, Bechtel said, noting the availability for one-way rentals has been temporarily shut down.

The airport’s location currently has a higher demand for more one-way rentals outbound than the number of one-way rentals being returned to the airport, and locations at State College and Harrisburg have also been “very tight” on one-way rentals, Bechtel said.

Bechtel said he is in ongoing conversations with Aero to get additional corporate cars at the airport.

Due to the availability struggles, Bechtel said there’s been an increased number of unauthorized drops — leaving Aero-owned vehicles at non-Aero Avis/Budget locations — despite a fine that runs up to $2,500.

“Some people still just don’t care. They just go and drop them,” he said.

According to Bechtel, the airport has about 45 vehicles in its fleet. That number will go up by this summer, he said, noting Aero officials “know how important it is to get one-way cars to our location.”

The hope is to stabilize the number of one-way rentals available at the airport soon, Bechtel said.

“The further we go into peak season, I think it’s going to be really good,” Bechtel said. “I’m really excited.”

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