What are the Chances the Charlottesville Airport would Close?

I received the following email this morning from this group –

I’m writing to you as the Chairman of the Business Travel Coalition (archived: 2023), and this morning we released a report detailing the top 100 regional and top 50 large airports that will lose service because of increasing fuel costs. Many of these airports may lose service all together.

Charlottesville is on the list.

You can view the rankings and have your community take action at https://www.savemyairport.com (archived: 2021).

Skyrocketing fuel prices have created a serious threat to the viability of the U.S. airline industry – and that threat has serious implications for cities of all sizes that rely on air travel for their own economic well-being, as well as local companies that need air service to do business. Studies indicate that at current fuel prices, one or more major airlines could be liquidated later this year, wiping out all their service to hundreds of cities overnight.

With the caveat that I cannot find much about this group online, I initially dismissed the email until I read this on the Charlottesville/Albemarle Airport’s site (archived: 2009):

It’s no secret that this will be a challenging summer for everyone involved in air transportation. That includes passengers, airlines, and airports of all sizes. With airlines looking for ways to reduce costs to offset the rising price of fuel, the air service industry has become extremely volatile.

…

CHO is no exception to the negative affects of the current fuel crisis. With airlines reducing flights across the nation, our loss has been minimal. We have only lost four of the fifty daily flights to and from CHO. Of those four, we have replaced some aircraft with larger ones, reducing our net loss of flights to three. Nothing is certain in today’s market, but one thing for sure, CHO will not rest until we are the airlines choice for air service to central Virginia.

Acknowledging the forthcoming challenges is wise, bold and surprisingly transparent.

One of the purported reasons for Charlottesville’s growth and popularity is its relatively thriving airport. (I prefer driving to Richmond (no longer available)) What would we do without it?

Update 06/25/2008: It’s amazing how fast a press release can travel:
C-Ville – (why not trackbacks/pingbacks? But thank you for the link!)
The HooK
WCAV (archived: 2008)

Related reading:

A bigger Charlottesville airport

NGIC May Add Employees

Airport Growth

Four Years