Yeager Airport sets sights on 5th-straight year of post-COVID passenger growth

The low point of COVID's effect on passenger activity arrived on April 15, 2020, when a total of 15 commercial airline passengers flew out of the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä airport, also known by its airport code letters, CRW.

By the end of 2020, CRW, which had boarded more than 250,000 passengers a year 10 times since 2000, had logged a dismal 89,512 boardings, down 60.5% from the previous, pre-COVID year.

Building back from the setbacks caused by COVID has been a challenge for all airports, and Yeager — which officially changed its name to West Virginia International Yeager Airport in 2022 — is no exception.

"In spring 2020 — like airports across the country — CRW saw passenger numbers drop to levels we'd never experienced," said Dominique Ranieri, the airport's executive director and CEO. "It was a period of uncertainty for the entire aviation industry."

As face masks, social distancing and a series of vaccination and booster shots helped check the pandemic, the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä airport's staff and governing board didn't let hard times stop them from planning for better days by moving forward with construction and improvement projects. They included a major runway rehabilitation, construction of a classroom building and hangar for the Marshall University Bill Noe Flight School, a complete revamping of the passenger terminal's post-security restaurant and gift shop and replacing a passenger boarding bridge.

Boarding numbers improve post-COVID

In 2021, 149,006 passengers boarded flights at CRW, up 66% from 2020. Growth was a more modest 10% in 2022, when 164,240 passengers flew out of the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä airport, but climbed 18.67% in 2023, when 194,808 travelers departed from CRW.

Last year, annual boardings topped the 200,000 mark for the first time since COVID's arrival, with the airport serving as the gateway for 202,303 departing passengers.

Monthly passenger boardings have topped pre-COVID totals for the same month on several occasions since 2023. For the first six months of this year, boardings totaled 103,630, putting the airport on pace to possibly top 2024 passenger numbers, but not yet likely to match pre-COVID annual totals.

Nationally, passenger numbers last year returned to and exceeded pre-COVID levels. But a number of airports, particularly smaller ones like CRW, are still scrambling to catch up.

Also like CRW, West Virginia's second-busiest airport, Huntington Tri-State, has yet to recover its pre-COVID passenger numbers. In 2019, the airport boarded 108,515 passengers. That number dropped to 58,582 the following year, and the airport logged 93,380 boardings in 2024.

The state's third-busiest commercial airport, Clarksburg-Bridgeport's North Central Regional Airport, did manage to rebound from the pandemic, boarding 42,288 passengers in 2024, up fractionally from the 41,802 travelers boarded in 2019, and well above the 18,468 boarded in 2020. 

A similar-sized airport to CRW, Evansville Regional Airport in Indiana, boarded 242,425 travelers in 2019, dropped to 104,883 the following year, and partially rebounded to 189,706 by 2024, also far short of its pre-COVID numbers.

On the other hand, Tri-Cities Airport, serving the cities of Johnson City, Kingsport and Bristol, on the Tennessee-Virginia border, boarded 220,827 passengers in 2019 and dropped to 96,624 the following year. But by the end of 2024, the airport had exceeded its pre-COVID boardings by more than 9,000, tallying a total of 229,860 departing passengers.

As the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä airport pursues new air service with its state, federal, county and airline partners, and continues to upgrade its infrastructure, returning to 2019 passenger numbers — or even the quarter-million annual boardings the airport once enjoyed — are not insurmountable goals, according to Paige Withrow, CRW's chief marketing officer.

"We've worked closely with our partners to attract and retain air service, including pursuing grants and incentives through programs like the Small Community Air Service Development Program," while collaborating with tourism and business organizations to demonstrate strong market demand, she said.

Breeze Airways expands at CRW

In early July, Breeze Airways, Gov. Patrick Morrisey and airport officials announced that the airline would add up to five new nonstop destinations from CRW in the next two years, starting with nonstop service to Tampa, Florida, which begins in October. The airline will prioritize adding nonstop service to Las Vegas and either Dallas or Houston, Texas.

In its two-year affiliation with the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä airport, Breeze has carried nearly 80,000 ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä passengers to nonstop destinations in Orlando, Florida, and Newark, New Jersey, and on seasonal flights to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

"Through the CRW Next [terminal development project], we've launched multiple modernization projects to improve the passenger experience," Withrow said. The initiative includes an $8 million renovation of the ticket lobby and baggage claim area, a second baggage belt, restroom upgrades and other passenger terminal enhancements.

"Today, we're seeing consistent growth and momentum in passenger traffic, partnerships, infrastructure investment and community support," Ranieri said. "It's a testament to our team's resilience and the trust our travelers and airline partners continue to place in us."