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Cutback on flights at Williamsport Regional Airport

This decision comes as a bit of a surprise to airport officials who believe that the additional flights are needed.

MONTOURSVILLE, Pa. — For the next three months, American Airlines will only offer one flight a day to and from the Williamsport Regional Airport.

If you plan on flying in or out of the Williamsport Regional Airport in the next few months, you won't have many flight options to choose from. Starting on February 12, American Airlines will only offer one flight a day. American is the only commercial service here.

This is not the first time this has happened.

"They did it last year. They took us down to one flight around the early part of the year and in the overall scheme of things, even though we are going down to one flight, we don't have a bad schedule for it, but of course, we would love to have the additional service back," said Richard Howell, executive director of the Williamsport Regional Airport.

A spokesperson from American Airlines told Newswatch 16 that the decision to cut flights was based on a limited demand between February and May.

The airport's executive director believes a second flight is useful.

"We just completed a leakage study, and the data would imply that we can support two, maybe three flights a day and maybe even more," Howell said.

Frequent fliers at Williamsport Regional Airport say the switch is an inconvenience.

"It's inconvenient with timing because I usually fly from so far away, I can only get one flight that takes me to that airport, and if I can't make the connection, I will spend 8 or 9 hours in Philadelphia waiting for the one flight that can come here," Lacey McCoy said.

"I think it is going to limit things," said Skip Gallo. "I need to come here for business to see a couple of local businesses in this area. It's the only airport within 50 miles of where I'm going. I went all the way up to Wellsboro from here, so it's still a drive, so it's really going to kind of crimp things."

Airport officials say that second flight will be returning in May, and they are hopeful that a third flight will be added later this summer.

"We're optimistic that they will eventually bring us back to three flights for the summer, and in between now and then, we hope to meet with the carrier and start presenting them some additional information and say, 'Hey, we really can support more service, if you give us the service, we will show you how we can support it,'" Howell said.

Airport officials also said that they are working on a plan to bring in an additional carrier to help bring more service to the airport.

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