A TINY airport has broken its record for the highest number of passengers despite serving a single airline.
One of the country’s smallest airports, Morgantown Municipal Airport in West Virginia, has enjoyed great success despite its modest offerings.
The airport broke its 2022 passenger count with a 2023 passenger count of 13,871, according to its Facebook.
At just under 500 acres, the small airport includes a small baggage claim area and a mile-long runway and offers flights exclusively with Southern Airlines.
A Viral TikTok showcased Morgantown’s amenities, including a lounge that accommodated four waiting passengers.
A big plus for the airport’s small size, TikTok noted, was the “faster security line.”
Another is an intimate travel experience, as the airport plane is a Cessna Caravan plane, one of three aircraft employed by Southern Airways in Morgantown.
The aircraft, known for its rugged flexibility and utility, seats just 9 to 12 passengers.
Southern Airlines ensures immediate connectivity for passengers with daily flights to two destinations, Washington Dulles Airport and Pittsburgh International Airport.
Jonathan Vrabel, director of Morgantown, explained that the airport has seen tremendous growth since it began operations in 2018.
“Before Southern, the airport had good flight service, early in 2011, 2012, 2013,” Vrabel said.
“And then in 2015 and ’16, Silver Airways was our carrier and they started having really bad service.”
After moving to Southern. the airport’s passenger record more than doubled, from fewer than 5,000 flights to nearly 14,000.
“We hope this continues to grow,” Vrabel said.
“What this will eventually do for us is help us bring in additional Airport Improvement Program funding through the federal government.”
The funds, Vrabel added, will go toward further modernizing the airlines’ offerings, including a terminal upgrade and its current runway extension project.
We would like to expand our airport and reach other communities that we do not currently serve.
Jonathan Vrabel
The current Morgantown terminal building, built in 1962, is more than six decades old.
Vrabel added that an upgrade would include an interior renovation to its current nondescript state to announce to passengers that they have arrived in Morgantown.
The airport’s runway extension is projected to be completed in 2027.
Vrabel revealed that the project hopes to bring in additional airlines along with increased passenger numbers.
“That’s our goal: We want to bring other airlines here and provide different services to different communities that we don’t have today,” he said.
“We would like to expand our airport and reach other communities that we currently do not serve.”
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