Airport departures increased in July, but lag behind last year
Aug. 31—PITTSTON TWP. — Passenger departures from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport in July increased from the prior month but still remain below figures from the prior year.
The airport had 15,686 departures in July, compared to 14,796 in June, a 6% increase, Director Carl Beardsley Jr. told board members Thursday. The bump stops a four-month slide, but departures still lag behind the same month last year, when 17,677 passengers flew out.
Beardsley said the uptick in departures in July is a good sign. He attributed it partly to American Airlines' decision two weeks ago to fly larger seating capacity planes to Charlotte, North Carolina. United Airlines also increased capacity on flights to Newark, New Jersey, from a 50-seat plane to planes that hold 70 and 76 passengers, he said.
"Both American and United continue to add seats in the market," he said. "This will help get boardings back to the break-even standpoint over the next few months, so we're very excited about that."
In other business, the board approved a lease modification that will allow Marywood University to move its flight training school to the Aviation Technologies building at the airport from its current location at the Wyoming Valley Airport.
Christopher Speicher, an associate professor in Marywood's School of Business and Global Innovation, said the new location is more modern and will allow the university to better accommodate students in the program, which has grown significantly in the past few years.
"We've normally had between 15 and 20 students ... now we have over 60 kids enrolled," he said. "We decided the best thing to do was establish a new relationship with a flight school that was really outfitted with the latest technology."
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