Yeager Airport losing daily NYC flight

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — American Airlines will begin offering daily flights from Yeager Airport on June 12 but that same day will discontinue its daily flights from Charleston to New York City.

Yeager’s director of marketing, Brian Belcher, said the Charleston-to-LaGuardia flight has been more popular for passengers interested in going to New York and back and less so for those needing connections to other locations.

Belcher said less than 40 percent of all passengers from Charleston to New York are using American.  

“There’s another 60-62 percent that’s flying on other carriers and they are either connecting through Washington-Dulles, Reagan National, or I even hear of people going through Charlotte to get to New York,” Belcher said.

American officials believe the Charleston-to-Dallas flight will be popular for connections.

“They have a whole range of international and connecting flights to the southwest, to the west coast, you can just about go anywhere from DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth),” Belcher said. “In their view it was better to serve Charleston from their Dallas hub.”

Yeager is having talks with other airlines about offering direct flights to the New York area. “We’re hopeful and we truly believe another carrier will pick that route up,” Belcher said.

American’s current New York flight leaves Charleston at 6:15 a.m. and returns at 8:15 p.m. Belcher said that’s been great for those making up-and-back trips to the Big Apple but less attractive for those trying to get connecting flights.