MARTINSBURG — Now that a year has passed since the Altoona-Blair County Airport Authority changed their jet service route with Contour Airlines from Philadelphia to Charlotte, it’s even more impressive that passenger numbers continue to climb, airport Manager Tracy Plessinger said.

Plessinger said Contour’s overall completion rate for October was 100%. He said passenger numbers for October were up 27% from September and up 68% from October 2024 — when the route change was made.

Contour carried 2,125 passengers to and from the airport, providing the highest monthly passenger loads since the route’s change, Plessinger said, adding more people from the Pittsburgh area are traveling to Martinsburg to use Contour’s Charlotte service.

According to Plessinger, for the first time in history, the airport had passengers waiting on standby for flights.

The federal government shutdown hasn’t affected the airport’s operations much at all, he said.

Plessinger said all airlines were ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration to cut back on flights by 4% and then 6%.

The Altoona-Blair County Airport hasn’t had any flight cancellations in the past month, Plessinger said, noting one flight did pick up passengers in Shenandoah, Virginia, to cut out a flight.

“We’ve seen very, very little impact,” Plessinger said. “It’s because they cut their flights based on passengers on flights and our flights consistently had more passengers than all of their other routes.”

Contour has cut back its lowest enplanement flights, Plessinger said.

As far as doubling up flights, Plessinger said the Altoona-Blair County Airport’s flights are generally “so full that they can’t stop and pick up more passengers.”

Business has been doing well at the airport’s Avis/Budget rental vehicle service, too, airport officials said.

Although Avis/Budget sales figures for October were not available prior to Wednesday’s meeting, Plessinger said October was the fifth consecutive month that the airport exceeded 200 rentals sold.

Avis/Budget Manager Nick Bechtel noted October was the start of the rental vehicle service’s third year of operation at the airport.

“I am proud of the growth we have achieved,” Bechtel said in his report to the airport authority, adding the service began with just nine Toyota Camrys and has grown to a fleet of about 50 vehicles; ranging from small cars and sport utility vehicles to trucks and minivans.

“October was the fifth straight month with over 200 rentals per month with an increase of 49 rentals year-over-year,” Bechtel said. “We are continuing to see an increase of business-related rentals, flight and nonflight related.”

La Fiesta’s sales for October were up 12% from September and up 5% from October 2024, according to Plessinger.

Coffee Coop sales were level with September, he said.

During the meeting, the airport authority moved to sign a letter from Blair County acknowledging that the authority is now responsible for Aviation Way’s winter maintenance.

The authority discussed whether it wants to keep the road open in the winter. Plessinger asked Solicitor Dan Stants whether the authority can post a sign indicating there’s no winter maintenance on the road and warning drivers to travel at their own risk.

Stants said the sign won’t keep the airport from being sued. But it would give them a good defense, he said.

Plessinger said airport officials will plow the road, but it won’t take priority over keeping the airport’s runways open.

“We’ll plow it,” Plessinger said. “It’s just that if somebody tries to come down and it hasn’t been plowed, it might not be plowed until the middle of the afternoon because we’ve got runways to open.”

In other business, construction work for the airport’s stormwater project on Airport Drive is in progress and should be complete soon, Plessinger said, noting the work could wrap up as early as today. A final inspection of the work with PennDOT is scheduled for next Friday, Nov. 21.

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