Uber drivers could begin dropping off and picking up passengers at Charleston's Yeager Airport by mid-August, after the airport's governing board on Wednesday heard a finance committee report recommending imposing a $3 per vehicle, per trip, fee for the right to carry Uber passengers to and from the airport.
In return, the airport would provide Uber and any other online transportation network company with designated parking spaces and signs directing passengers to them. Multiple passengers would be able to ride in a single Uber vehicle without increasing the $3 fee.
Airport and Uber officials are expected to meet next week to work out details for a contract authorizing a six-month trial period using the $3 per vehicle fee structure. If a contract is signed then, the service could begin operating at Yeager by mid-August, Terry Sayre, the airport's executive director, said.
A law passed by the Legislature that took effect on July 1 allows Uber and other app-based ride-booking services to operate within the state. Uber began offering rides in the Charleston and Morgantown areas last week. Yeager Airport currently charges annual user fees to C & H Taxi and hotel shuttle buses serving the airport's passenger terminal.
In other developments at Wednesday's meeting, the board's legal counsel, Charles Bailey, reported that the airport's insurer, AIG, has reimbursed the airport $734,428 for out-of-pocket expenses such as providing temporary housing for Keystone Drive residents and relocating utilities following the March 2015 collapse of the safety overrun area at the south end of its runway. Numerous other insurance claims and lawsuits stemming from the collapse have yet to be resolved.
Meanwhile, after delaying the resumption of debris removal from the site to allow core samples to be collected for use as evidence in upcoming slide-related lawsuits, work has resumed at clearing the more than 200,000 cubic yards of slide material remaining at the base of the slope and across Keystone Drive.
In the past two weeks, about 25,000 cubic yards of material have been removed from the site despite delays caused by heavy rains. Sayre said it now appears that it could take until the end of October to remove the debris field, stabilize the remaining slope and clear and reopen Keystone Drive.
Landowners along Keystone will be approached for permission to enter their property to help the Charleston Sanitary Board assess damage to sewer lines covered by the slide, according to Sayre. Since the landslide took place, the Sanitary Board has been using a temporary line and diesel-powered pumps to bypass the nonfunctioning section of sewer line.
The Charleston airport's governing board is considering tapping $100,000 in unallocated money from its marketing fund to help pay for the 10 percent state and local match needed to bring in federal Airport Improvement Program funding, used to pay for major construction projects. The Federal Aviation Administration pays 90 percent of the cost for AIP projects and, until recently, the state chipped in the remaining 10 percent. This year, the state announced that it would contribute only half of the 10 percent match.
Also discussed on Wednesday was a proposal submitted to Elite Airways, a carrier headquartered in Portland, Maine, that connects under-served communities with popular destinations, to initiate nonstop service between Charleston and Orlando, or another Florida destination, using the balance of a $700,000 Air Service Development grant the airport received three years ago to provide marketing and startup cost incentives. Yeager has not had a nonstop Orlando flight since 2012, when AirTran merged with Southwest Airlines, and the popular three-times-weekly service to the Florida city was dropped.
Similar proposals are being considered for submission to two other small carriers, according to airport spokesman Mike Plante.
Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelhammer@wvgazette.com, 304-348-5169, or follow @rsteelhammer on Twitter.