Last week, Greenbrier Valley Airport (GVA) Director Stephen Snyder announced that Via Air will provide essential air service to the airport beginning Oct. 1.
Via Air will provide 12 weekly, round-trip flights to Charlotte Douglas International Airport on board a 50-seat aircraft, according to its two-year contract.
Tickets are available online at FlyViaAir.com and via third party websites such as Kayak and Travelocity. American Airlines will also provide tickets, Snyder said, in a couple of weeks, pending American Airlines approval.
Flights booked to Charlotte on the Via Air website are being sold at an introductory rate as low as $8.95 one way for flights booked in October. Regular rates will be in the neighborhood of $39-$59 each way, inclusive of all fees and taxes, Snyder said.
Airport officials hope low rates will draw local customers who typically fly out of Charleston or Roanoke, VA.
Via Air’s proposed schedule, which has not been finalized, includes two flights out of GVA at 10 a.m. and 12:52 p.m. on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and one 9:30 a.m. departure on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Incoming flights would arrive at 7:04 p.m. from Charlotte.
The U.S. Department of Transportation is providing an annual essential air service subsidy of $4,731,866.
Air service has been provided by Silver Airways, but Snyder opted to terminate the contract, stating to the Department of Transportation that GVT’s market “has been severely wounded by poor performance of the incumbent carrier.”
According to the Department of Transportation, “Via has a proven record of providing reliable air service in West Virginia, specifically … charter operations to/from Raleigh County Memorial Airport in Beckley.”
