'Success breeds success': Murtha airport's momentum setting stage for busy year, leaders say

Yahoo

23-02-2025

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Passenger totals aren't the only things on the rise at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport. Activity is increasing across the entire 650-acre site, Airport Manager Cory Cree said.
A partnership between St. Francis University and airport fixed-base operator Nulton Aviation Services allowed the Loretto university to launch its aviation maintenance technician program this past fall at the Richland Township airport, while a pilot training school continues to grow.
Balance Restaurant began serving breakfast and lunch inside an airport terminal building that is tentatively set to see space for screened passengers expand in 2026. And efforts are progressing to expand parking for growing crowds and to add new hangars for aircraft and economic development, Cree said.
'It's a situation where success breeds success,' Cree said. 'We have a lot of momentum from 2024 that is kind of rolling over into 2025.'
Cree said a broad partnership alongside airport officials has made that possible. That includes Nulton Aviation Services, SkyWest Airlines, the local aviation-focused nonprofit Aerium, two local colleges and the region's elected officials.
Reclassification lands airport a funding boost
Following several straight years of growth and two years with paid boarding numbers, or 'enplanements,' well above 10,000, the Federal Aviation Administration elevated the airport's commercial status to primary nonhub.
This guarantees the airport will receive at least $1 million in Airport Improvement Program funds annually, plus additional Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds through 2027. That total adds up to $2.7 million for 2025, Cree said.
'This is what we've been working toward a long time,' Cree said.
PHOTO GALLERY | Vision 2025 | John Murtha Johnstown–Cambria County Airport
Airport officials can use the Airport Improvement Program funds for runway repairs, new maintenance equipment and safety upgrades, while the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law money offers broader opportunities.
Upgrades in works
Johnstown's airport offers daily trips to Chicago O'Hare International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport through SkyWest Airlines' United Express flights.
SkyWest's steady service to two major United Airlines hubs has been credited for driving up passenger numbers at the Johnstown airport in recent years. The airport's January 2025 numbers, for example, marked the third straight year in which monthly passenger totals increased from the previous year.
Approximately 1,270 passengers embarked on flights from Johnstown in January, up from 888 in January 2024, which was part of a year that saw Johnstown record its highest totals in 24 years. Approximately 35,000 people flew to or from Johnstown last year.
Airport chart
The John Murtha Johnstown Cambria County Airport's passenger totals have grown since the facility started offering United Express flights.
The growth has reached a point at which the airport is looking for more space for passengers to wait after they are screened before boarding their flights. The recent influx of funding dollars will be used to address that issue in the coming year, which could also allow the airport to host additional flights or larger planes, Cree said.
Airport officials have already drawn up a preliminary plan that would create a post-screening room for additional passengers inside the existing terminal building space near the baggage return area.
Cree said airport officials plan to have final designs drawn up for the project this fall, so the project can be advertised for bids in spring 2026.
'The airport will have to get the project approved through the Federal Aviation Administration's system, a procedural move that takes nine months to a year,' he said. But the process should be complete prior to bid advertising next year, he added.
Airport officials are hoping to attract an ultra-low-cost carrier – a commercial air industry segment that includes companies such as Allegiant Air, Breeze Airways and Frontier Airlines, among others – to offer flights to Florida.
Cree said additional ways to add service are also being explored, such as adding weekly charter flights to a southern U.S. destination.
A project to expand the airport's parking lot is also being planned as a two-phase project. One phase would add 26 additional spaces alongside the terminal building. The second phase could add a larger lot nearby, across from the flight control tower.
Taxiway lighting upgrades are also being eyed for 2026, with a plan to switch to efficient LED lights as a cost-savings initiative, Cree said.
'Many career pathways'
The airline industry's national shortage of pilots is well-documented. And the need for mechanics to keep aircraft maintained is even more dire, studies show.
Through Nulton Aviation Services and St. Francis University, programs are growing on site to answer both needs, offering pathways to lucrative careers.
Nulton Aviation Flight Academy offers training to prepare students to become private and commercial pilots. The program has grown from 10 students in 2020 to more than 70 enrolled in flight training this year – more than 75% of them pursuing careers in aviation, Flight School Director Will Guzic said.
'There are so many career pathways now,' Guzic said.
In just under two years, someone who has never flown before can get a commercial license (10 months) and then spend the next year logging air time as a flight instructor to pursue a career in charter or commercial aviation that starts out at $80,000 to $100,000 a year in salary, Guzic said.
He said there are charter businesses across the region – in Johnstown, Bedford and Altoona, for example – that allow young pilots to stay local. Students can also pursue a commercial pathway to fly for SkyWest Airlines, which offers $17,500 tuition reimbursements to pilots it hires.
St. Francis launched its aviation maintenance technician program in August inside a newly revamped space on Fox Run Road.
Students learn inside a hangar-turned-classroom equipped with a single-prop aircraft and a CF34 jet engine during a 21-month program that prepares them to take the FAA's general, airframe and powerplant certificate tests – which would enable them to get to work in the field.
St. Francis officials said careers start at $50,000 and climb from there.
The university is enrolling its second class of students for its summer 2025 course, Program Director Brianna Pavkovich said in a January interview.
Through a scholarship, the first five students to enroll for classes receive a Snap-on aviation maintenance toolbox valued at $5,400 – lowering the entry cost to begin taking the program.
'The Spring 2025 AMT Toolbox Scholarship underscores our mission to support hands-on learning and provide students with the tools they need to excel in the aviation industry,' said Pavkovich, noting that aviation tools are a required component of the program. 'This scholarship prepares students for success and demonstrates the value St. Francis University places on education and professional growth.'
An aviation economy
Through the annual Aerium Summit and year-round outreach, Aerium continues the push to introduce aviation into classrooms locally and across the state.
Local airport leaders, including Nulton Aviation's Larry Nulton, envision building up a workforce of professionals to support the aviation industry. The goals include supporting local businesses already in the aviation field and luring new businesses to the region.
In addition to land being offered as a tax-free Opportunity Zone, airport officials are aiming to achieve those goals through a planned regional jet hangar project, Cree said.
The previously announced project aims to develop a space that would attract a jet maintenance company that would employ the region's aviation mechanics.
Drone aviation programs for the design, testing and certification of the unmanned aircraft would also be incorporated into the facility, airport officials have said.
Early construction is underway to upgrade Fox Run Road for additional traffic. Cree said that project will be completed later in 2025. Meanwhile, design work could proceed this year to enable site preparation to occur for the hangar in 2026, he said.
Lockheed Martin Human Resources Manager Pat McCann said the aviation industry can become a major player in the region's economy.
Lockheed Martin, a defense and aerospace manufacturing giant that partners with the aviation maintenance program, already employs more than 500 people 'and growing,' McCann said, in Richland Township and Davidsville – many of them supporting upgrades to the company's F-16 jet program.
And the company would embrace the opportunity to add more employees if the workforce grows, McCann said.
Johnstown's airport could drive in even more economic activity from the broader U.S. aviation industry, he added.
'People are starting to really understand the economic value an airport brings,' he said.
And Johnstown's airport has something many others do not – room to grow that presents a 'great opportunity,' McCann said.
'When you step back and look at the busy northeast corridor, this is one of the few (airports) that has room for expansion and growth,' he said. 'Many times, they are landlocked.'
Cree said that type of growth is possible because so many organizations – as well as state Reps. Jim Rigby, R-Ferndale, and Frank Burns, D-East Taylor Township, state Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr., R-Richland Township, and U.S. Reps. John Joyce, R-Blair, and Glenn 'GT' Thompson, R-Centre – are working together.
'Many times, you don't see everyone rowing in the same direction at smaller airports,' he said. 'That's not the case here.'