LINCOLN COUNTY, W.Va.-- Those opposed to the proposed regional airport contend West Virginia's two largest airports, Yeager Airport in Charleston, and Tri-State Airport in Huntington, are capable of handling the area's travel needs now and in the future.

Those opposed to the regional airport include Yeager Airport officials, many Charleston city government leaders including Mayor Jay Goldman, and a grassroots coalition called SMART (Save Money And Reject the Transpark) Priorities for West Virginia. Others critical of the regional airport include Cody Mueller, a staff attorney for the National Transportation Safety Board and a private attorney with a firm in Texas specializing in aviation law, and Mike Boyd, a national expert on aviation matters.

Show me the money

Damron Bradshaw, president of SMART, said the regional airport would not be the economic success its supporters contend it will be.

"It won't be economic development," Bradshaw said. "It will be economic reshuffling. By building the transpark, they will take jobs from the upper Kanawha Valley and transplant them in Lincoln County."

Bradshaw said the regional airport would be farther away from the state's seat of government, farther away from the centers of tourism throughout the state, and farther away from some of the region's major corporations, such as the chemical plants in the Kanawha Valley.

Bradshaw said the regional airport is already a waste of taxpayers' money, as all the studies that are conducted in support of the regional airport and paid for by government resources.

"I would like to see the money they're spending on studies spent on economic development -- real economic development," Bradshaw said. "The money they're wasting could be put into solid projects to bring jobs to the state."

Bradshaw said the push for a regional airport is the brainchild of Cabell countians who stand to benefit the most from the proposal. He pointed out that the road going to the airport would commence at Culloden, which is in Cabell County.

Yeager Airport Director Rick Atkinson also said it is not likely that building a new airport will magically mean thousands of jobs and improved air service. Atkinson said even if the two airports were combined, the critical mass to lure airlines to add more flights and bigger planes to serve the market still would not be sufficient enough. He contends the Benefit Cost Analysis, one of the studies conducted in preparation for the regional airport, is ridden with numerous flaws.

"What they look at is yield," Atkinson said. "That's how much revenue they could get per seat per mile (RSM). They want yields. People don't like to hear this because they want cheaper fares.

"They've sold this proposal that we will have improved air service over what we have now. This is a simplistic view, that if we combine the two markets, airlines will salivate and drop a load of metal from the sky. That's not how airlines work. It shows a lack of understanding."

Atkinson said the idea that building a new airport to handle larger jets goes against a national trend in air service, that of regional jets. Smaller aircraft designed to carry approximately 50 passengers, as opposed to larger planes such as the DC-9 that can carry 100 or more passengers.

"United Airlines pulled mainline service out of Syracuse (N.Y.) in October. That airport enplanes 1.2 million people a year. Yeager enplaned 274,000, pre-9-11. We did 261,000 enplanements in 2002. When they pulled out larger jets in Syracuse, they replaced them with regional jets-- 50-seat models," Atkinson said.

He pointed out that if United Airlines would pull its larger jets out of Syracuse, what makes regional airport supporters think that this region could get larger jet service when enplanements here would be substantially less than a million.

The concept of the regional jet, Atkinson said, started in the mid-1960s but actually took hold in the airline industry in the mid 1990s, and continues to this day.

"Spartanburg (S.C.) has 800,000 enplanements a year and it has regional jet service," Atkinson said. "Lexington (Ky.) has a half million enplanements a year and they have regional jet service."

Atkinson said that as airlines seek to replace the aging MD-80's in their fleet, they are relying more and more on regional jets, because they operate on shorter air fields, and are cheap to operate as turbo props, and passengers still have the comfort of a jet experience.

He scoffs at the notion that local air service is lacking because bigger jets don't land here.

"When US Air pulled out of Charleston, they also pulled out of Knoxville, (Tenn.), Charlotte (N.C.), Roanoke (Va.), Lexington, (Ky.), Toledo and South Bend, (Ind.). Every one of those cities except for Toledo has a bigger airport than Charleston.

"I think the people at the airlines have been polite to the regional airport supporters, but when push comes to shove,

I don't think they're going to be signing on the dotted line."

Atkinson said another reason why larger planes do not land in West Virginia now, and probably won't in the future, is sheer numbers.

"One statement made by the port authority is that we need an 8,500-foot runway to land Southwest Airlines," Atkinson said. "Dallas Love Field and Chicago's Midway both have runways shorter than 8,500 feet. It's not runway length -- and I've asked -- it's population. They want one million population within 30 minutes of the airport. And another thing, Southwest doesn't want to pay high airport costs. For them, it should be under $4 per enplanement, that's what they like it to be. Our airport costs are in the $4 range. The regional airport is projected to have costs of around $10. But I think it will be much higher, in the $15 or $16 range."

Atkinson disputes the notion that a regional airport in West Virginia could be as successful as the one built in Huntsville, Ala. The main reason that Huntsville was so successful at attracting new industry to locate around its new airport was the abundance of available, flat land -- something Lincoln County does not have.

"People think there's this great piece of flat land out there," Atkinson said of the proposed regional airport site. "It's not flat, and it's going to be costly to develop. They say they're going to create 15,000 jobs -- not on the land they're talking about. I don't know if they have room for that many people up there."

The fact that Huntsville was already home to a NASA facility, as well other nearby military facilities were also contributing factors to the regional airport's success as a drawing card for business and industry, Atkinson said.

Safety Issues?

Atkinson bristled at the idea that Yeager Airport is not up to FAA safety standards. He said he thinks the safety issue is the result of public relations strategy, not real fact.

"(West Virginia State Sen.) Ned Jones must not think it's too unsafe, I see him up here an awful lot, catching planes and picking up his family," Atkinson said. "I think this whole safety issue came from a focus group session where they found out if you want to sell the regional airport idea, then sell it on safety."

Atkinson said that every airport has its problems, even new airports often have issues that must be addressed.

He admits Yeager has two main concerns, runway overruns and the distance of the taxiway from the runway. He said those issues are being addressed.

Yeager officials plan to lengthen their runway by adding a new product called engineered safety mass (EMass) at both ends of the overruns to make the total runway system 6,822 feet in length. EMass is an engineered material arresting system to compensate for less than 1,000 feet of runway safety area (RSA). It was developed by the FAA and tested at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City.

"EMass is designed to stop a plane going 70 nautical miles per hour within 500 feet with less than 1 G of force to the plane and its occupants." Atkinson said. "I do know that LaGuardia, JFK

and the airport in Little Rock, (Ark.) all have or are installing EMass systems."

Not content to stand still

Atkinson said Yeager isn't ready to concede defeat just because of talk of a regional airport.

"We've worked with the Chamber of Commerce, the Economic Development Authority and the people in the tourism industry to make proposals to airlines to get them to increase their level of service. We're marketing ourselves," Atkinson said. "Our enplanments are up. Except for 2001, our enplanements are growing."

Atkinson said regional airport proponents have the idea that Yeager was a sleepy little airport with no thought to the future until the regional airport was proposed, and is only now undergoing changes that were badly needed years ago.

"That's not true," Atkinson said. "I don't wake up in the morning so I can show someone else up. I want to make this airport better because that's what I get paid to do. I just wish we didn't have to defend ourselves for what we do. I will not apologize for being aggressive in improving this airport. We will fight. We will not 'go gently into that good night.'"

Atkinson said he would prefer that instead of building a new airport, the money and attention would be funneled into his facility and Tri-State Airport.

Tri-State officials have 'wait-and-see' attitude

Officials at Tri-State Airport in Huntington have not committed themselves one way or the other on the issue, but doubt that a regional airport could be as successful as what its supporters claim.

"If it would do all the things we're being told it will do, all the things that are being sold to the public, it probably would be a good thing," Tri-State Airport Authority President Jim Booton said. "But there are a lot of unanswered questions. We've had some troubles with the West Virginia Port Authority. We've tried to get them to tell us their plans for Tri-State Airport and they're vague. They've not given us anything in writing. Is the Tri-State Airport Authority going to be part of the regional airport authority? Will we share in revenue from the regional airport? Will they take some of our members? There are a lot of unanswered questions. They say 'don't worry we'll take care of you', but they haven't said how."

Booton said people in Cabell and Wayne counties in West Virginia, and in southern Ohio and eastern Kentucky should consider that right now, many people can leave their homes and in 20 minutes, arrive at Tri-State airport. A trip to the proposed regional airport may take some people 45 minutes, others longer than that.

Booton said if the airport were to be built any further east that the current proposed site, he would be opposed to the idea, and doubts it would draw very many people from Kentucky or Ohio.

Booton said in spite of talk of the regional airport, Tri-State officials continue to improve air service there, with particular attention given to improving east-west route service.

"Right now most of our flights are north-south," Booton said. "We are in negotiations

with other airlines."

Whatever happens with the regional airport, Booton said he is adamant that Tri-State Airport remain an airport.

"I don't want to be negative," Booton said. "But I am concerned, and I want to make sure we take care of Tri-State Airport."