Honking horns, bumper-to-bumper traffic, screaming drivers ? and baggage check.
If Wicomico County Airport Commission gets its way and restores commuter flights from Salisbury on the Eastern Shore to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, commuters might have much different issues on their minds each morning.
“We have been working with Salisbury Airport for more than six months now on estimating air passenger demand,” said Jim Walsh, the deputy director at BWI. “We think there is sufficient demand for scheduled airline service and it can work.”
In the first half of 2002, U.S Airways cut its flights between Salisbury and BWI. Part of a growing trend of airlines shuttling its passengers to other major airports, BWI was no longer the premiere destination or worth the expense of shuttling passengers to and from, said Bob Bryant, the airport manager at Salisbury. Since that time, there has been a steady outcry from locals to return these flights and improve the convenience of travel and commuting to BWI.
Bryant has been an outspoken proponent of getting the flights back, and he has a plan. Applying for an Small Community Air Service Development Program grant, Bryant is trying to raise about $30,000 in public backing from pre-purchase tickets and donations to show the U.S. Department of Transportation that locals mean business. If the grant is awarded to Wicomico, nearly $350,000 is available to help lure another airline to Salisbury. This year?s deadline for applying for the grant is April 27.
With that startup capital and some intensive negotiations, the revived flights might only be four to six months away.
“Our search was really limited to an independently owned and operated regional airline,” said Bryant. “But we want someone who has some underlying collective agreements with larger airlines.”
Negotiations are currently going on with Cape Air out of Massachusetts to become the airline of choice for the commuter flights. As part of the plan, tickets are estimated to sell for right around $110 round-trip.
