Buckhannon-Upshur Airport Authority President Provides Update to City Council

February 24, 2023

Mountaineer News

Buckhannon City Council

Buckhannon-Upshur Airport Authority President Michael Ruffing provides an update to Buckhannon City Council on February 16th.

BUCKHANNON - During the February 16th Buckhannon City Council meeting, President of the Buckhannon-Upshur Airport Authority attended to provide an update to Councilmembers, including a first for the airport.

"We do have a lot of exciting things that we are finally starting to see some traction on," Ruffing said. "For anybody who doesn't know, in the past three or four months we have had our first general manager, which, as far as I know, we haven't had in the history of the airport," he said.

Jenny Powers was hired to assume the general manager role, and according to Ruffing, she's been spending her time going through a lot of airport manager's training these past couple of months while shining through in other areas.

"So, we have somebody there functionally working every week on our behalf trying to generate more business for the airport; trying to make it more financially and fiscally stable so that it can start to generate its own revenue, along with the support we receive from the city, the county and obviously from the FAA. Having a general manager there has been a big help," Ruffing said.

Watch the full segment here:

Ruffing went on to elaborate on some of the success they've experienced since Powers took the helm.

"We have implemented a program at the airport where we had one half-hanger... it didn't have a long-term lease signed. So, Jenny actually designed and implemented a short-term lease strategy for a lot of helicopters and different services that have been coming through the area," he said.

"That, mixed with the fact that we have some of the most affordable prices on Jet A and Avgas have made us a good target for planes and helicopters to land, stop and fuel over, which hopefully is also having a positive impact on our different hotels and the CVB," he said.

Ruffing stated that they will also be working on a partnership with the CVB for this upcoming year, and explained how Powers has been instrumental in getting them there.

"So far, in the last thirty days, it (the half-hangar) had about a 220% increase in revenue from that hanger over previous leases… she is also very instrumental in working on a new marketing plan for 2023-2024 and expanding a lot of information and communication for dissemination of how the airport can be influential and beneficial for our community," he said.

Watch the full segment here:

Ruffing also explained a courtesy car program that the airport has implemented. Watch the brief explanation here: