Study shows Johnstown airport has room to bolster travel numbers
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport's 2024 passenger count set a modern-day record for the airport, but that was just a fraction of the number of local travelers the airport could be serving, a market study shows.
Even with boardings up more than 80% and the airport's local market share increasing, approximately 530 people every day are still driving to airports further away for flights, Texas-based consultant ArkStar's 'Demand and Leakage' study showed.
That adds up to about 193,000 potential customers yearly, ArkStar's Gary Foss said. And they are driving two hours on average to board flights, often to destinations such as Florida and Denver.
For Johnstown's airport and its United Express carrier, SkyWest Airlines – and perhaps future carriers – that illustrates a real opportunity for growth, he said.
'This is a great opportunity for us. It shows the potential that still exists,' he said, adding that Johnstown's airport is capturing just under 6% of the air travelers who live closer to Johnstown than other airports, such as those in Pittsburgh, Latrobe or State College.
Johnstown's airport authority paid $7,500 for the study to get a snapshot of local residents' travel habits. It's part of their goal to lure more of those residents to fly from Johnstown.
The airport, which had 35,000 people fly to or from Johnstown in 2024, offers direct flights to Chicago O'Hare International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
The airport's Essential Air Service contract is also up for renewal this year, and the study's findings could shed light on travel destinations that airport officials should be considering for 2026.
Southern favorites
Chicago, one of SkyWest's current direct destinations from Johnstown, is among the top destinations for local air travelers, regardless of whether they are flying from Johnstown or other airports such as Pittsburgh, the study showed.
But many of the top seven destinations overall were southeastern cities, Foss said. Orlando ranked first and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, second, with Miami third, while another Florida route also scored high.
'One-third of (travelers) are going to Florida ... and 48% are heading to the southwest,' he said.
Denver was a surprising inclusion in the top five, Foss added.
SkyWest meeting
Airport Manager Cory Cree and airport authority board members are planning to meet with SkyWest Airlines officials in Utah next week about the study's results – and about future opportunities for Johnstown.
The airport authority has been taking steps to entice an airline – either SkyWest or a future carrier – to add additional flights from Johnstown.
Plans are progressing to expand parking and, separately, the waiting area for screened passengers inside the terminal in 2026.
Foss and the board said next's week's meeting will be a chance to update SkyWest on the Johnstown airport's momentum. But even if the airport's goal to add another direct destination doesn't yield results, details from the 75-page report still could lead to positive changes, Foss said.
The up-to-date data on local travelers' favorite destinations could lead SkyWest and Johnstown to consider different Essential Air Service routes, or tweak current flight schedules to provide more ideal connections to flights to popular destinations.
The study's details could also help Johnstown's airport better focus its marketing – not just through TV or online ads, but also targeting certain demographics within the pool of travelers, Foss said.
Marketing tool
Airport authority members put an emphasis on data detailing SkyWest's performance, which showed its completion rate topping the national average over much of the past year, as another message they need to share and highlight.
'There's a lot of good data here,' Board Chairman Tim McIlwain said at the meeting via Zoom.
Even with the record numbers the airport has been reporting, 'there seems to be a lot of potential to capture even better enplanement numbers,' he said.
Foss reminded the board members that even though the airport has been providing reliable commercial jet service for the past several years – and seeing its passenger totals grow because of it – that's still a short period of time when it comes to changing the region's travel habits.
'Old habits die hard,' Foss said, adding that figures showed some people continue driving to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia or Baltimore for flights. 'It takes a couple years to really get the word out, and people are still discovering that they can get to major hubs from Johnstown.'
'But you look at these numbers ... and you can see the upside,' he added.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump's tariff fallout? It's worse than we previously thought, says OECD
President Donald Trump's trade war will wreak greater economic damage than previously expected, both in the United States and everywhere else, according to new forecasts by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. In a report Tuesday, the group of 38 mostly wealthy nations sharply downgraded its 2025 economic growth forecast for America to 1.6% from the 2.2% projected in March and said growth would be even weaker next year. The report underscores the uncertainty and chaos around Trump's tariffs, as well as their potential to cause lasting harm across the world. The Paris-based organization cited higher tariffs, including retaliatory tariffs imposed on American exports, a slowdown in net immigration and a 'sizable reduction' in the federal workforce. The OECD also expects the global economy to slow markedly to 2.9% growth both this year and next — a downgrade from its prior forecasts of 3.1% and 3% respectively. That's based on the assumption that tariffs worldwide will remain at their mid-May levels, it said. 'The global economy has shifted from a period of resilient growth and declining inflation to a more uncertain path,' OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said in a statement. 'Today's policy uncertainty is weakening trade and investment, diminishing consumer and business confidence and curbing growth prospects.' In its Economic Outlook report, the OECD said it expects the slowdown to be 'concentrated' in the US, Canada, Mexico and China — four of the countries most affected by Trump's new tariffs. Since retaking office in January, the US president has hiked import duties on most of America's trading partners and on key goods, including cars and steel. Despite his tariff plan hitting a legal stumbling block last week, a round of punishingly high 'reciprocal tariffs' are due to whack many of America's trading partners from July 9 unless they can strike a deal with Washington. The tariffs, their erratic implementation and the unpredictability that both have injected into the global economy are weighing on many businesses and consumers. According to the OECD, the new US import taxes, in combination with retaliatory trade barriers erected by China and Canada, are 'pointing to much greater disruption than during the US-China trade tensions in 2018-19' — a reference to the trade war during Trump's first term. The OECD said new levies risk pushing up inflation in the countries imposing them and that central banks — which hike interest rates to slow price rises — should 'remain vigilant.' In contrast, Trump has publicly pressured US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to cut the cost of borrowing in America, while Powell has preferred to wait to see how the president's tariffs will impact the world's largest economy before deciding whether to cut or raise rates. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Travel Weekly
33 minutes ago
- Travel Weekly
The limits of artificial intelligence in travel planning
Is AI coming for tour operator and travel advisor jobs? That's the question Wayfairer Travel CEO Jay Stevens sought to answer when he tasked ChatGPT with planning his trip to Japan in December. Jay Stevens Amid the buzz around AI becoming more advanced and introducing trip-planning tools, Stevens wanted to utilize the technology to assess "business risk." He prompted ChatGPT to plan the itinerary for his Japan ski trip and found that the technology excelled at some tasks, like finding the best onsens, but failed at others, like leaving him stranded after misinterpreting a bus schedule. Wayfairer is an England-based tour operator that specializes in bespoke travel. Stevens said one of the biggest risks to his company's model would be if AI can "do what we do and people don't have to pay for it." It's a fair consideration at a time in which entities like Google are pushing its AI-powered trip-planning capabilities and a handful of travel-focused AI tools are popping up. Stevens found that ChatGPT, the only AI tool he used to coordinate his Japan trip, failed when he arrived on a train from Tokyo to Yamagata, a rural prefecture, late at night. The last leg of his trip involved walking to a bus station, where things went awry. ChatGPT had messed up with the bus schedule, leaving Stevens without a way to his hotel (he eventually made it by hailing a taxi.) "So at 11 minutes past 11, it's snowing, so I'm covered in snow and starting to feel a bit cold," he said. Stevens said that in rural Japan, where data points aren't as available, ChatGPT didn't have enough data to provide accurate information. "Once you get outside of big data, you're into smaller data, it can find whatever it wants to find and start believing in it, which it clearly does," he said. Jay Stevens visited Appi Kogen ski resort on his trip. Photo Credit: Jay Stevens Things went awry a second time in Yamagata when Stevens relied on ChatGPT to plan a visit to an onsen, which left him stranded yet again when it didn't account for the lack of taxis and rideshares operating late at night in the rural area. The onsen was spectacular, he said, pointing out a strength in ChatGPT's recommendation, but it lost steam when planning the transit side of the trip. He was 20 minutes into what would have been a cold and snowy 2-hour walk when a stranger offered him a ride. When asked about Stevens' experience, a ChatGPT spokesperson said transportation schedules are among things users should verify. "While ChatGPT can be a great resource for trip planning, like finding restaurant recommendations, building sample itineraries or surfacing fun activity ideas, we always recommend double-checking important details like transportation schedules, ticket availability and local logistics directly with official sources," said Leah Seay Anise, a spokesperson for ChatGPT parent company OpenAI. "This is especially key for anything that changes often, like bus times or event hours." Pitfalls of GenAI tools Stevens' experience with scheduling errors mirrors that of a New York Times columnist who put AI to the test for planning a New York trip and found that ChatGPT messed up walking times and recommended Broadway show times that did not exist. That particular pitfall of generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, is because they rely on a knowledge base built on previously published information, said Christopher Anderson, a professor at the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration who teaches a course on AI opportunities in hospitality. The ability to look forward, like for scheduling excursions or making reservations, is still in its infancy. "We're still at the cusp of generative AI being able to look at a website, decide what it needs to do and then take those actions," he said. Anna Abelson, an adjunct instructor at New York University's Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality who focuses on tourism and niche travel, said GenAI can be useful for inspiring trip ideas and some planning, but "you should use it as an assistant and not an expert." Even though the technology can quickly sort through mountains of data and produce fast recommendations, it lacks the human touch that is a hallmark of travel advisors, she said. "The human touch should still be part of the travel planning and experiences," she said. "There is definitely a unique value of human connection and experience that cannot be replaced with anything else."
Associated Press
33 minutes ago
- Associated Press
data.world launches Data Marketplace: A revolutionary e-commerce experience transforms enterprise data discovery
New marketplace experience bridges the gap between technical data catalogs and business user needs, enabling self-service data discovery at scale AUSTIN, Texas, June 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- the enterprise data catalog for the modern data stack, today announced the launch of Data Marketplace, a purpose-built, e-commerce-style discovery experience that transforms how business users find and access high-quality data products within their organizations. The new marketplace serves as a curated front door to comprehensive catalog, displaying only the most trusted and business-ready data assets organized by domain and use case rather than technical structure. Data Marketplace addresses a critical challenge facing enterprise organizations: while 73% of enterprise data goes unused for analytics, business users struggle to navigate the technical complexity of traditional data catalogs. The new marketplace experience removes these barriers by providing a consumer-grade interface that makes data discovery as intuitive as online shopping. 'Organizations have invested heavily in building comprehensive data catalogs, but adoption among business users remains a challenge,' said Brett Hurt, CEO and Co-founder of 'Data Marketplace changes that dynamic by meeting business users where they are—providing a familiar, shopping-like experience that makes our customers' most valuable data products accessible to everyone who needs them.' Bridging the technical-business divide Data Marketplace operates on the principle that different users need different experiences. While data engineers require the full technical depth of a comprehensive catalog, business users need an interface that speaks their language and serves their workflows. The marketplace curates only the highest quality, actively maintained data products and presents them through visual merchandising and domain-based organization. 'Think of it like IKEA,' explained Tim Gasper, Chief Product Officer at 'Your catalog is the warehouse—all the raw materials organized by type and source, perfect for technical teams building solutions. The marketplace is the showroom—curated displays organized by use case and business domain, designed for users who want solutions, not raw materials.' Three pillars of enterprise value Data Marketplace delivers value through three core pillars: Discovery: Simplified decision-making through intuitive domain-based organization, visual merchandising, and curated experiences that surface only explicitly published, high-quality data products. Adoption: Expanded platform reach with consumer-grade user experience, simplified navigation purpose-built for business users, and configurable landing pages with personalized suggestions. Insight: Future-proofed strategy aligned with data mesh and domain-oriented data management practices, efficient governance that balances control with accessibility, and seamless transitions between marketplace and catalog views. Industry-leading innovation Data Marketplace represents continued innovation in making enterprise data more accessible and valuable. Built on the company's unique knowledge graph foundation, the marketplace maintains all the governance, security, and lineage capabilities of the underlying catalog while providing an entirely new user experience optimized for business consumption. 'This isn't just a new interface—it's a fundamental shift in how we think about data accessibility,' said Gasper. 'Instead of expecting business users to become data engineers, we're making data behave like the consumer products they're already comfortable with.' Seamless integration, immediate value Data Marketplace integrates seamlessly with existing deployments, requiring no data duplication or separate maintenance. Data products are created and managed in the familiar catalog environment, then published to the marketplace with a simple status change. This approach ensures organizations can leverage existing investments in metadata and documentation while providing immediate value to business users. Key capabilities include: Supporting data mesh and modern architectures Data Marketplace aligns with emerging industry practices around data products, data mesh architectures, and domain-oriented data management. Organizations implementing decentralized data strategies can use the marketplace to establish standardized approaches to data product creation and promotion while maintaining centralized governance and discovery. Availability and adoption Data Marketplace will be available for private preview to existing customers by the end of June 2025, with public preview following in August 2025. The feature will be included at no additional cost for customers. 'We're seeing tremendous excitement from our customers who are ready to move beyond simply documenting their data to actively promoting and merchandising their most valuable data products,' said Hurt. 'Data Marketplace represents the evolution from data warehouse to data showroom.' About turns data chaos into clarity. We're the most-adopted data catalog and governance platform on the market. Built on a unique knowledge graph foundation, seamlessly integrates with your existing systems. We set the standard for swift, people-centric governance that's both simpler and smarter. We don't just manage data; we unlock its potential, paving the way for responsible AI adoption and data-driven decision-making at scale. As a Certified B Corporation, is committed to fostering global data literacy. With prepare for your data-driven future – where clarity conquers chaos, and every data point tells a story. For more information, visit Contact: Liz Elfman [email protected] View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE
