Morgantown Municipal Airport
Morgantown Municipal Airport is three miles east of Morgantown, in Monongalia County, West Virginia. It is also known as Walter L. Bill Hart Field. It sees one passenger airline, subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.
Federal Aviation Administration records say the airport had 10,239 passenger boardings in calendar year 2012, a decrease of 4% from the 10,674 enplanements in 2011 and 12.7% from the peak enplanements of 11,727 in 2009. The FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a primary commercial service airport.
The airport's runway cannot handle larger airplanes, but it has filed a request with the Federal Aviation Administration to lengthen the runway.
Facilities
The airport covers 494 acres at an elevation of 1,244 feet. Its single runway, 18/36, is 5,199 by 150 feet.In 2009 the airport had 43,430 aircraft operations, average 118 per day: 66% general aviation, 23% air taxi, and 11% military. 51 aircraft were then based at the airport: 82% single-engine, 12% multi-engine, 4% jet, and 2% helicopter.
History
The first passenger airline flights were Capital DC-3s in 1949; Lake Central replaced Capital in 1961, and successor Allegheny was replaced by Allegheny Commuter in 1979. Air Midwest flew between Morgantown and Pittsburgh until 2005. Mesa Airlines also operated flights between Morgantown and Pittsburgh under the US Airways Express name from 1996 to 2005.RegionsAir flew as Continental Connection between Morgantown and Cleveland from 2005 to March 2007. Colgan Air flew as US Airways Express between Morgantown and Pittsburgh from May 2007 to January 2008. In January 2008 a $1.9 million federal grant was awarded for an access road between the airport and Interstate 68. Colgan Air flew as United Express between Morgantown and Washington–Dulles beginning in January 2008. These flights ended in May 2012.
Silver Airways flew from Morgantown Municipal Airport to Clarksburg and Washington–Dulles. In June 2016, City of Morgantown employees began looking at other air carriers to replace Silver Airways because of Silver Airways' increasingly poor reliability. Airport officials received proposals from five interested airlines, namely Silver Airways, Southern Airways Express, ViaAir, Boutique Air, and Corporate Flight Management. Airport officials recommended that Southern Airways Express be chosen for the next Essential Air Service contract to service the airport primarily because of the air carrier's 99.2 percent completion rate, which was higher than Silver Airways' rate that had sometimes been less than 70 percent.
Starting on November 30, 2016, Southern Airways Express began flights between Morgantown Municipal Airport and both Pittsburgh International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport. Pittsburgh was chosen as a destination because many people of Morgantown were used to flying out of Pittsburgh and enduring the lengthy drive, parking costs, and long lines at airport security. Southern Airways Express continued previous service to Washington–Dulles for the use of business travel and international travel pertaining to West Virginia University.
On July 31, 2017 Southern Airways Express ended service to Washington Dulles and began service to Baltimore–Washington International Airport. Connections to many low-cost carriers were seen as a positive improvements, as was the adjacent rail station that provides access to Washington Union Station near the United States Capitol. It also helped that a new airline alliance starting in September 2017 would give Morgantown residents the opportunity to fly to London with just one layover.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
Statistics
| Year | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
| Enplanements | 11,727 | 11,249 | 10,674 | 10,239 | 10,036 | 10,676 | 7,163 | 7,851 | 5,698 | 5,890 |
| Change | 10.32% | 4.08% | 5.11% | 4.08% | 1.98% | 6.38% | 32.91% | 9.60% | 27.42% | 3.37% |
| Airline | Colgan Air dba United Express | Colgan Air dba United Express | Colgan Air dba United Express | Silver Airways dba United Express | Silver Airways dba United Express | Silver Airways dba United Express | Silver Airways dba United Express | Silver Airways dba United Express | Southern Airways Express | |
| Destination | Clarksburg ----Washington-Dulles | Clarksburg ----Washington-Dulles | Clarksburg ----Washington-Dulles | Clarksburg ----Washington-Dulles | Clarksburg ----Washington-Dulles | Clarksburg ----Washington-Dulles | Clarksburg ----Parkersburg ----Washington-Dulles | Clarksburg ----Parkersburg ----Washington-Dulles | Pittsburgh ----Washington-Dulles | Baltimore ----Pittsburgh |