Heading to Penn State’s Peach Bowl? State College Regional Airport offering nonstop flight

Josh Moyer
·2 min read

Penn State football fans in and around Happy Valley now boast another traveling option for the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl — at least for now.

State College Regional Airport announced Wednesday that United Airlines is offering a nonstop, roundtrip flight from here to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as the New Year’s Six bowl draws closer. The flight will depart locally at 11:30 a.m. Dec. 29 and will depart Atlanta at 12:34 p.m. Dec. 31.

The Peach Bowl, between Penn State and Ole Miss, is scheduled to kick off at noon Dec. 30. It will take place inside Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Before the announcement, Centre Region football fans had to weigh driving to the airports of larger cities such as Harrisburg, Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. Now, the local airport remains an option — and its current price isn’t far off from the bigger ones.

According to Google Flights on Wednesday afternoon, economy booking with a free carry-on and no checked bag will cost $495 roundtrip from State College to Atlanta. (Editor’s note: This changed to $1,752 as of 9 a.m. Thursday.) It’s an additional $70 for the first checked bag. Each leg of the flight there and back is expected to take about 2 hours, 10 minutes.

This isn’t the first time the State College Regional Airport has scheduled a special events flight. In 2021, for example, the airport scheduled limited-time flights to Birmingham, Alabama, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the Auburn and Iowa football games, respectively. That same year also saw a special Nashville flight for the hockey team’s U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game against North Dakota.

This year, Penn State football is slated to take on the Ole Miss Rebels led by head coach Lane Kiffin. Nittany Lions coach James Franklin has earned five NY6 bowl berths over the last eight seasons, while Ole Miss has seen two New Year’s Six bowls in the past eight years.

Penn State is considered a mild favorite in the game. Most online sportsbooks favor the Nittany Lions by 3.5 points.