MARTINSBURG — As the May 7 deadline for REAL ID enforcement nears, the Altoona-Blair County Airport Authority board members stressed the importance of having a REAL ID license, a United States passport, a passport card or a military ID.

“We all have a real concern that many in our community are unaware of the deadline and the new REAL ID requirements. This will result in them not being able to fly and many may not realize that until they arrive at the airport and are not able to board a flight,” airport manager Tracy Plessinger said during the board’s meeting Wednesday.

According to Plessinger, people without a federally accepted form of identification will be unable to board domestic flights, even if they purchased a nonrefundable ticket to board a flight at the airport. They’ll also be unable to enter certain federal facilities.

“I guarantee you (on) May 7 there’s going to be people showing up down there and they’re going to get turned away,” Plessinger said of people trying to board Contour Airlines’ flights to the Charlotte Douglas International Airport after the “absolute” deadline for REAL ID enforcement.

“It’s going to be people who don’t fly a lot and ‘Oh, Aunt Mabel died in Mississippi and I’ve got to go down for the funeral and now I can’t go because I don’t have a REAL ID,'” Plessinger said, adding “there’s really no excuse” for people who do not have a REAL ID yet because the deadline has been “delayed, delayed and delayed” since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Plessinger said the airport has also posted about the looming deadline on its social media pages once a week for a while.

If people show up to the airport without a REAL ID after the deadline, Plessinger said they’ll be advised to go to the PennDOT Driver License Center in Altoona, 1738A Ninth Ave., with their required documentation to obtain a REAL ID. If they haven’t done so already, Plessinger said he encourages people to do that sooner rather than later.

Board member Adam Ward suggested the airport posts a list of the required documentation needed to obtain a REAL ID, which includes one document providing identity and lawful status; one document providing your Social Security number; and two documents providing your Pennsylvania residency.

A full document checklist is available on the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s website, www.pa.gov. Click on the agency directory tab at the top of the screen, scroll down to the agency categories, click “show more” and select the transportation agency; click driver and vehicle services; in the overview, click “REAL ID”; scroll down and click the “review the list of acceptable documents” link.

People can apply for a REAL ID using that link, but they can also do it on-site at their local PennDOT Driver License Center, Plessinger said.

“You don’t have to send stuff away or anything. If you take all your stuff in, they’ll do it right there and give it to you in person,” he said. “So, that’s what we’re going to have to tell people: go to Altoona and take the stuff that you need.”

Other business

Contour Airlines’ overall completion rate for March was 100%, Plessinger said, noting passenger numbers were up 40% from February and up 160% from March 2024. Contour carried 1,758 passengers to and from the airport in March.

La Fiesta’s sales for March were up 27% from February and up 16% year over year, Plessinger said, adding Coffee Coop’s sales were also up 38% from February.

Avis/Budget sales numbers from March weren’t available at the meeting Wednesday, but 41 additional outbound rentals were sold last month than in March 2024, Avis/Budget manager Nick Bechtel said.

Bechtel said the issue discussed of one-way rentals being shut down at last month’s meeting has been resolved. Between the natural flow of vehicles and the aid of the Avis/Budget location in State College, “we are open for one-way rentals,” Bechtel said, adding the airport now has a highly requested 15-passenger Ford Transit van in its fleet.

Bechtel added that’s impressive because Aero only utilizes vans at select locations.

“We got one here and we’re going to try to get it on the road and keep renting it out,” Bechtel said. “We just got it here this week.”

One of only three new business items on the board’s agenda included a motion accepting the resignation of Celeste Martin, one of the airport’s two full-time employees at the airport’s Avis/Budget car rental operation. Martin decided to pursue other opportunities closer to where she lives for a better pay, according to Bechtel.

“This is a major loss for us,” Bechtel said. “In her time here, she never called in sick, was never late and worked very hard for us.”

Until the airport hires someone to replace Martin, Bechtel said he will be covering the 64-hour weekly operation by himself. As a result, the airport is temporarily adjusting its Avis/Budget operating hours for Saturday and will now be open from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. instead of closing at 5 p.m.

If employee shortages continue, Bechtel said the airport might have to reduce more hours throughout the week. He and Plessinger are in the process of interviewing candidates for the full-time position, Bechtel said.

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