Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport

Charlottesville area community leaders and local businesses came together when the Charlottesville Chamber of Commerce's held its annual golf outing last Thursday at the Old Trail Golf Course in Crozet, VA. Danielle Fitz-Hugh, Vice President of Member Service of the Chambers said, "The Chamber is about providing opportunity: providing opportunity to network, providing opportunity to build relationships, this community is very strong on relationships, especially as it relates to business, and spending the day on the green is a great way to build those relationships." (quote from channel 19 news...)

CHO was there as well, teaming up with Pepsi and sponsoring the first hole, a par 5. This was key as it required a huge drive off of the tee to clear a water feature. Therefore it was our "duty" to "support the short drive", and cheer on anyone that didn't quite make it. It was a great day of getting our name out there, and connecting with a couple hundred of our local businesses. With Airport managers Ronnie Shifflett and Bryan Jones, as well as CSO Supervisor Travis Ratcliff lending their experience; CHO's Short Drive Campaign was a success. Combating 100 degree heat, CHO stuck it out as sponsor after sponsor packed up and left. The end result was huge! We accomplished many goals, including name recognition, a chance to counter some of the negative rumors about CHO's demise, and an opportunity to generate names of local businesses for future air service campaigns.

Congratulations to Roy Clements of Charlottesville - winner of CHO's golf gift pack from Charlottesville Golf Center! Thanks to everyone for entering our "shortest drive contest"!

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 understands that its success is vital to the future of the local economy. Our plan is aggressive and proactive. Over the next several months we will be visiting with the airlines that already serve Charlottesville and the surrounding communities, as well as those that may be interested in future air service. The plan is simple... Sell ourselves. Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport is nestled in a strong economic region. It has a corporate-heavy support base that is quickly becoming the primary ingredient to small airport success. The strong support of area tourism just adds to the desire of air service to the heart of Virginia.

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.