(Meeting Updates - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

WILLIAMSTOWN — The public will have a chance to discuss a number of proposals for federally subsidized commercial air service at the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport next week.

The Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport Authority will be discussing the pitches made by Air Wisconsin, Breeze Airways, Contour Airlines, Denver Air Connection and SkyWest to provide air service during the airport authority’s regular meeting which will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 13, to allow the public the chance to appear and comment.

“We are inviting the public in for discussion,” said Airport Manager Ben Auville. “It is mostly to get information out there and ask what the five different bidders brought forth.”

Auville said the airport has already received over 600 contacts from people in the region on what they want to see from the airlines. Some of the contacts have dealt with items that are not in the proposals.

“We are only limited to what is in the bid packages,” he said. “This will be to help shape some people’s understanding on what we are actually wanting feedback on and what these packages do entail.”

Some people want to go to specific locations, but they might end up having to make connecting flights elsewhere to accomplish that.

“It is just the path you take to get there,” Auville said.

The pitches include planes with 30, 50 or 137 seats flying to and from Charlotte, Raleigh, Atlanta, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

The Wood County Airport Authority has until May 27 to make a recommendation on which bid to choose, although the final decision will be made by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Tennessee-based Contour Airlines has been providing flights to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport aboard 30-seat planes since December 2018. Their contract for 12 flights a week is up Sept. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year.

The meeting will have some business items they will have to go through which Auville does not believe will take a lot of time with the majority of the meeting dedicated to the public forum where Auville and authority members will be able to go through the proposals, explain what is there and be able to answer questions people might have.

“We will elaborate more on what is there,” Auville said. “We have had very detailed discussions with the airlines (except one) about what was in those packages and what their expectations are.”

Auville said the meeting will be informal for people looking for information about air service at the airport. The meeting will be held in the main terminal.

Auville expects he will be fielding a lot of questions about what the airlines are actually offering in each package.

“We are not trying to do any decisions off this,” Auville said. “Anyone who wants to make comments to the board can do so.

“What we are doing is coming up with a recommendation letter to the Department of Transportation which will be one factor in their calculations because it is their money and they will pick who they are going to pick.”

However, the public might have some sway on the bids that are close, which a couple are (within around $100,000 and $200,000), in determining which one the board could recommend and make an argument for with federal officials.

Auville said a total of six proposals were submitted to the airport from the five airlines (as SkyWest offered two different proposals.).

He wants to eventually get to a top-three proposals and figure out what would work best for the community.

Auville said there will be a number of local leaders planning to attend from the different cities locally. Wood County Commissioner Robert Tebay is a member of the airport board and is expected to attend. Some may not be able to attend, but Auville said they have talked to the local mayors.

“We want to best represent what it is that people here want as far as where they travel,” he said.