JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Johnstown’s airport crossed the annual 10,000-enplanement mark this month at its fastest rate yet.
The milestone was elusive for more than 15 years at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport – until 2023.
And this year the airport achieved the feat with 4 1/2 months remaining.
“We’re already approaching 11,000” enplanements, Airport Manager Cory Cree said Tuesday after SkyWest Airlines Supervisor Nathan Pilkington delivered his latest monthly report.
For U.S. commercial airports, the 10,000-enplanement total is more than a milestone. (An “enplanement” is when a passenger gets on board an airplane, in aviation industry jargon.)
Airports that log at least 10,000 paid passenger departures in a calendar year are classified as Primary Commercial Service Airports. Airports that continue to maintain that level earn $1 million in federal dollars annually for work such as terminal building or runway projects – up from the $150,000 allocations that smaller airports receive.
Pilkington and Cree weren’t surprised Johnstown’s airport hit the mark earlier this year.
Figures show monthly departures in 2024 – and total numbers of passengers traveling to and from the airport – have topped last year’s record-setting numbers every month so far.
Through July, 19,056 travelers took SkyWest Airlines’ inbound and outbound United Express flights in 2024. A total of 3,390 travelers used the airport in July, figures show. 1,738 of them were logged as “enplanement” departures.
Pilkington said more than 1,100 departures have already been recorded in August.
“Departing passengers as of August 21, 2024: 10,946” was scribbled on a SkyWest whiteboard inside the terminal Thursday.
Nearby, Chelley Vardian, of Johnstown, was among more than 30 travelers adding to that total for a flight to Washington Dulles International Airport. From there, she said, she would fly to Alabama – her fourth trip from Johnstown this year, she said.
“It’s so much more convenient,” she said as Transportation Security Administration officials opened the gate to begin screening passengers. “The parking is free, and I got here at 10 a.m. for my 10:55 a.m. flight. You can’t do that in Pittsburgh.”
Airport Authority Chairman Rick McQuaide has credited the airport’s partnership with SkyWest Airlines and its nonstop daily United Express routes to two busy hubs – Washington Dulles and Chicago O’Hare International – for the turnaround.
On Tuesday, he said the airport’s track record of recent success has “won over” travelers who previously drove elsewhere for flights.
“People are figuring out how much more convenient it is to fly here,” he said.
Pittsburgh International Airport, for example, is a nearly two-hour drive from Johnstown, and arriving travelers are advised to arrive three hours early for their flights due to ongoing terminal renovations.
“And the cost to park at the ( Pittsburgh) airport is almost as much as an airline ticket now if you’re going to be parking for a week,” McQuaide said, adding that parking at the Johnstown airport is free seven days a week.
Johnstown travelers have short security lines and tickets are competitively priced when people book in advance, he said.
Pilkington said it’s no longer rare to see all 50 seats booked on Chicago flights. Just five years ago, commercial air travel from Johnstown relied on eight-seat planes that were often half-empty.
Airport rose among U.S. peers in 2023
Federal data on 2023 enplanement totals, released this month, show that the Johnstown airport’s soaring passenger count wasn’t common nationwide.
Johnstown’s total 2023 enplanement number, 14,253, jumped by 85% over the previous year, and just a handful of smaller airports saw similar rates.
Many more, including nine of Pennsylvania’s 13 commercial airports, saw their numbers drop.
That included Lancaster Airport, which saw its boardings fall slightly to 6,260; DuBois Regional Airport, which saw its number drop 10% to 5,568; and Erie International Airport, which saw its totals fall 23% to 47,206. The Erie airport reacted this summer by luring low-cost carrier Breeze Airways.
Pittsburgh’s, Harrisburg’s and Philadelphia’s airports were among the few other Pennsylvania airports that saw higher passenger counts in 2023, Federal Aviation Administration data show.
Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe, whose carrier Spirit Airlines has cut back on both flights and pilots in recent months nationwide, saw its enplanement count drop 38%, to 76,923, figures show.
Altoona-Blair County Regional Airport saw a 27% drop, with 3,231 enplanements recorded in 2023. Altoona ranked 513th of 548 airports in enplanements last year.
Johnstown was ranked 369th of 548, while DuBois was 452nd on the list.
Latrobe’s enplanements ranked 245th, while the state’s two largest airports – Philadelphia and Pittsburgh – were 21st and 48th among all U.S. airports in 2023.
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