John Murtha Johnstown–Cambria County Airport is a civil-military airport three miles (5 km) northeast of Johnstown, in

Cambria County, Pennsylvania Cambria County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 133,472. Its county seat is Ebensburg. The county was created on March 26, 1804, from parts of Bedford, Huntingdon, and Somerset Countie ...

. It is owned by Johnstown–Cambria County Airport Authority and is named after the late Congressman

John Murtha John Patrick Murtha Jr. (; June 17, 1932 – February 8, 2010) was an American politician from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Murtha, a Democrat, represented Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district in the United States House of Represent ...

. It sees one airline, subsidized by the

Essential Air Service Essential Air Service (EAS) is a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States, which had been served by certificated airlines prior to deregulation in 1978, maintained commercial service. Its aim is t ...

. The

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...

for 2011–2015 categorized it as a ''non-primary commercial service'' airport (between 2,500 and 10,000 enplanements per year). Johnstown–Cambria County Airport is home to several military units. The airport houses the

Pennsylvania Army National Guard The Pennsylvania Army National Guard, abbreviated PAARNG, is part of the United States Army National Guard and is based in the U.S. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Together with the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, it is directed by the Pennsylva ...

's 1-104th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion (Company's HHC, A, C, D, and E) and Det 1, Company C, 2-104 General Support Aviation Battalion (Air Ambulance). It also houses the 258th Air Traffic Control Squadron (258 ATCS) of the

Pennsylvania Air National Guard The Pennsylvania Air National Guard (PA ANG) is the aerial militia of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States of America. It is, along with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, an element of the Pennsylvania National Guard. As commonwe ...

, and Marine Wing Support Squadron 471 (MWSS-471), Detachment A of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing (4th MAW) of the

U.S. Marine Corps Reserve The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. It is the largest command, by assigned pe ...

. The aerial military units fly

helicopters A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

rather than fixed-wing aircraft. Currently, the airport is served by

United Express United Express is the brand name for the regional branch of United Airlines, under which six individually owned regional airlines operate short- and medium-haul feeder flights. On October 1, 2010, UAL Corporation and Continental Airlines merged t ...

CRJ-200 aircraft operated by SkyWest to

Washington Dulles Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Eastern United States, located in Loudoun County and F ...

and Chicago O’Hare.

History

The airport opened in 1948 as Johnstown Municipal Airport, Its first passenger airline flights were TWA DC-3s in 1948; All American Airways replaced TWA in 1949 and successor

Allegheny Airlines Allegheny Airlines was a regional airline that operated out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1952 to 1979 with routes primarily located in the eastern U.S. It was the forerunner of USAir that was subsequently renamed US Airways, which itself me ...

was replaced by Allegheny Commuter in 1970.

US Airways US Airways (formerly USAir) was a major United States airline that operated from 1937 until its merger with American Airlines in 2015. It was originally founded in History of aviation in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called ...

served the airport in the 1990s and 2000s with flights to

Pittsburgh International Airport Pittsburgh International Airport , formerly Greater Pittsburgh International Airport, is a civil–military international airport in Findlay Township and Moon Township, Pennsylvania. Located about 10 miles (15 km) west of downtown Pittsbur ...

. Traffic through the airport peaked in 2004 when US Airways flew 21,000 passengers through Johnstown. However, the recession led the weakened US Airways to drop service to Johnstown in 2009, and traffic dropped to near zero.Flood City Folly: How U.S. Taxpayers Funded the “Airport for Nobody”
/ref> The airport was the subject of controversy in the 2000s when reports showed Democratic Congressman

had steered $150 million in federal taxpayer dollars to the airport in the 2000s, despite decreasing traffic. Since US Airways stopped service in 2009, Johnstown has been served by airlines using

funding to connect Johnstown to larger airports. The first was

Colgan Air Colgan Air was an American certificated regional airline subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corp. The headquarters of Colgan Air were located in Memphis, Tennessee. Colgan Air operated for Continental Express/United Express, and US Airways Expre ...

operating flights for

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

service to

Washington-Dulles Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Eastern United States, located in Loudoun County and Fa ...

and Altoona. Colgan went bankrupt in 2012, so the EAS contract was picked up by

Silver Airways Silver Airways LLC. is a United States regional airline with its headquarters in Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport in Broward County, Florida, near Fort Lauderdale. It was founded in 2011 with assets from the former Gulfstream I ...

, which flew from Johnstown to Dulles and DuBois. The city complained about Silver Airways's high prices and delays and requested that the EAS contract be awarded to

Southern Airways Express Southern Airways Express is a commuter airline operating across the United States with headquarters in Palm Beach, Florida. Southern Airways acts as a local service airline for dozens of cities across all U.S. time zones, Approximately a third ...

. Southern's service began in November 2016 to Pittsburgh and Dulles (later switched to Baltimore-Washington). Southern's service was plagued by pilot and aircraft shortages, and the airport authority recommended the federal Department of Transportation award the contract to

Boutique Air Boutique Air, Inc. is a commuter airline based in San Francisco, California. The airline offers charter services as well as scheduled passenger services subsidized under the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. Boutique operates the second larg ...

, which began service in to Pittsburgh and Baltimore-Washington in November 2018. In 2020, the EAS contract was awarded to

SkyWest Airlines SkyWest Airlines is an American regional airline headquartered in St. George, Utah, United States. SkyWest is paid to staff, operate and maintain aircraft used on flights that are scheduled, marketed and sold by a partner mainline airline. The ...

to bring back jet service to Johnstown as United Express with flights to Chicago-O'Hare and Washington-Dulles. In 2022, SkyWest informed the

U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...

they would be leaving the Johnstown market, but when the DOT opened the contract for bids, SkyWest re-entered the competition along with three other carriers.

Finances

It has only two scheduled flights and little other activity, but as of January 2016, the airport had received almost $200 million in federal subsidies. That funding has not been used to subsidize the facility's operations, including the terminal; it has instead been used to construct a concrete reinforced runway for military purposes and to build military installations near the airport. The airport is in the bottom 28% of all facilities receiving EAS funding. In 2004, an $8 million air traffic radar system was installed at the airport; it is operated by the

Facilities

The airport covers 650

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

s (263 ha) at an elevation of 2,284 feet (696 m). It has two asphalt runways: 15/33 is 7,004 by 150 feet (2,135 x 46 m) and 5/23 is 4,387 by 100 feet (1,337 x 30 m). In 2017 the airport had 20,036 aircraft operations, average 55 per day: 47%

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

, 42% military, and 11% airline. 54 aircraft were then based at the airport: 21 single-engine, 4 multi-engine, 2 jet, 1 helicopter and 26 military.

Airline and destinations

Scheduled passenger flights:

Statistics

Accidents and incidents

* On January 6, 1974,

Commonwealth Commuter Flight 317 Commonwealth Commuter Flight 317 was a scheduled commuter flight from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, operated by Air East. On January 6, 1974, while on approach to Johnstown–Cambria County Airport, the Beechcraft Model ...

crashed on approach to Runway 33, killing 12 of 17 on board.

References

Other sources

* Essential Air Service documents
Docket OST-2002-11451
from the

: *
Order 2002-9-23 (October 1, 2002)
selecting Colgan Air, Inc., to provide subsidized Essential Air Service (EAS) at Altoona and Johnstown, Pennsylvania, for a two-year period at a combined annual subsidy rate of $847,576. *
Order 2005-4-9 (April 8, 2005)
reselects Colgan Air, Inc., d/b/a U.S. Airways Express, to continue providing essential air service (EAS) at Altoona and Johnstown, Pennsylvania, for a two-year period, and establishes a combined subsidy rate of $1,358,551 per year for service consisting of 18 nonstop round trips each week between Altoona and Washington (Dulles), and 18 nonstop round trips each week between Johnstown and Pittsburgh, with 19-seat Beech 1900D aircraft. *
Order 2007-2-17 (February 16, 2007)
selecting Colgan Air Inc., d/b/a US Airways Express, to continue providing essential air service (EAS) at Altoona consisting of 18 weekly nonstop round trips to Washington Dulles, and at Johnstown consisting of 18 weekly nonstop round trips to Pittsburgh. The combined annual subsidy is $2,364,462 based on service with 19-seat Beech 1900D turboprop aircraft for the two-year period beginning June 1, 2007, and all service would be operated as US Airways Express. *
Order 2008-6-10 (June 10, 2008)
re-selecting Colgan Air, Inc. d/b/a United Express, to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Altoona and Johnstown, Pennsylvania, at a total annual subsidy rate of $2,788,845, for the period from June 15, 2008, through June 30, 2010. *
Order 2010-5-10 (May 10, 2010)
selecting Colgan Air Inc., operating as United Express, to provide essential air service (EAS) at Altoona and Johnstown, Pennsylvania, for a combined annual subsidy of $3,348,294, for the two-year period from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2012. *
Ninety-Day Notice (March 8, 2012)
from Colgan Airlines, Inc. of termination of Essential Air Service at Altoona, Pennsylvania, and Johnstown, Pennsylvania *
Order 2012-3-14 (March 23, 2012)
prohibits Colgan Airlines, Inc. d/b/a United Airlines Express, from terminating service at Altoona and Johnstown, PA; Victoria, TX; Staunton, VA; and Beckley, Clarksburg/Fairmont, and Morgantown, WV, for 30 days beyond the end of the 90-day notice period, i.e. July 8, 2012. We are also requesting proposals by April 25, 2012, from air carriers interested in providing replacement Essential Air Service (EAS) at Victoria, TX; and Staunton, VA, for a new term, with or without subsidy. *
Order 2012-4-30 (April 26, 2012)
selecting Silver Airways, formerly Gulfstream International Airways, to provide Essential Air Service (EAS) at Altoona and Johnstown, Pennsylvania, to Washington Dulles International Airport, for a combined annual subsidy of $3,997,187. Service to be provided will be 18 weekly nonstop and one-stop round trips over an Altoona-Johnstown-Washington Dulles or Johnstown-Altoona-Washington Dulles routing using 34-seat Saab 340 aircraft for the two-year period beginning when the carrier begins full EAS at both communities.

External links

John Murtha Johnstown–Cambria County Airport
official site
Johnstown–Cambria County Airport
at

Pennsylvania DOT The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) oversees transportation issues in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The administrator of PennDOT is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, currently Yassmin Gramian. Presently, Pe ...

Bureau of Aviation
258th Air Traffic Control Squadron, Air National Guard

MTT Aviation Services
the

fixed-base operator A fixed-base operator (FBO) is an organization granted the right by an airport to operate at the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction, ...

(FBO)
Aerial image as of April 1993
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to prov ...

'' * *
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnstown-Cambria County Airport Airports in Pennsylvania Essential Air Service

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

Transportation buildings and structures in Cambria County, Pennsylvania Airports established in 1948 1948 establishments in Pennsylvania County airports in Pennsylvania