Fly Youngstown Blog

2007 was yet another quiet year for the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport. Although there were no new airlines brought in by the administration and no new flight schools, there is some optimistic news that can only have us excited about what 2008 may bring the airport! Let’s look back now, at 2007: A Year in Review.

JANUARY

-After 18 months of pressure from this very blog site, the airport finally releases a brand new official website; we grade it an A-.

FEBRUARY

-Chuck Johnson, our good friend [wink-wink], announced in the Vindicator that Vegas flights were close to becoming a reality. Of course later on he told us something entirely different saying he never said that in the paper…. Sure! Well its been 11 months, and still no Vegas Flights….. Glad to see you brought your aviation knowledge down to Charlotte now Chuck!

MARCH

-I go off on the airport. The lies from Chuck Johnson got to my head and for some time I was upset about a story published in the Vindicator that stated Bowser told Trumbull County commissioners Tuesday that he has been in contact with a “mainstream carrier,” and it should be making a decision soon.” Are we honestly still waiting for this decision, because my guess would be they said NO.

APRIL

-This blog pushes for Airport and Port Authority to attract Skybus to the airport. Although Skybus is having some early financial issues, they are still flying today!

MAY

-YNG applies for an $800,000 grant from the Dept. of Transportation through the Small Communities Air Service Development Grant Program. The grant calls for the money to be used as revenue guarantee’s for an airline to fly 3-5 times per day to ORD-CVG-CLT on a 50-90 seat regional jet.

JUNE

-Quote of the year by the man in charge of the Port Authority:

Joseph Maxin, port authority chairman, vented his frustration at the fence project tying up discretionary funds that could be used for infrastructure improvements. “This is so frustrating. All the money is going into that damn fence,” he said.

JULY 

-Lot of news this month. The airport got $150k from the DOT for new signs and safety equipment. Also the MV Scrappers [A - Cleveland Indians] had their 3rd largest crowd in franchise history, much in part to the Allegiant Air promotion of the night. A lucky set of fans won round trip tickets on Allegiant Air to Orlando-Sanford courtesy of YNG and Allegiant!

AUGUST

-Another great month for this blog. We start a grassroots effort called the Rally for YNG with the hopes that Allegiant Air will see that the people in this valley WANT additional flights to cities like Ft. Lauderdale, Vegas, and Tampa. We had 2000 votes in about 2 weeks.. Also we began a weekly chat feature which has been stopped temporarily. Airport Director Steve Bowser even joined us a few times and answered our questions on the airport. We hope to get this going again very soon!

SEPTEMBER

-YNG Announces that they are looking to hire a marketing director for the airport, now it sounds like they will hire an airport consultant. Also YNG announces they have begun talks with an airline that does not have a major presense at CLE or PIT.

OCTOBER

-YNG gets a big shot in the arm! The DOT has awarded YNG $575,000 from the SCASD Program to be used to attract a carrier to fly 3-5 flights per day to a regional city on a 50-90 seat regional jet.

NOVEMBER 

-RTI Titanium of Niles, OH announced they are moving their headquarters from Niles to Pittsburgh; due to the lack of air transportation in the Valley. That caught the eyes of the Port Authority and they called a meeting about it… Nothing yet though!

DECEMBER

-We released our 5th or so new design for the blog. It has a nice red and black trim at the top, the colors of YSU and the Valley. We also find out that the Port is close to signing on with a marketing consultant, as soon as this month!

We thank you for another great year here on the Fly Youngstown Blog. We hope 2008 is an even better year. In the coming days we will release our 2008 Goals for the Airport and begin to work on our 2008 FlyYNG Plan, our 3rd one now.

THANKS