By George Berkheimer, For the Bedford Gazette
The Bedford County Airport began service in 1947 as a grass and gravel landing strip in Cessna known as Max Hunt Memorial Field, which supported a successful flight school. When that airstrip was abandoned, it was replaced by a more contemporary airport built in 1960 and situated closer to the Pennsylvania Turnpike to help pilots locate it from the air. Recognizing the need for a larger, more modern airport, the Bedford County Airport Authority broke ground on the current facility, and the new airport opened for business in 1994. Jim Veach serves as the current Airport Manager.
Q: What types of air traffic are most common at Bedford County Airport?
Veach: We have seven business class jets, 19 general aviation aircraft and two helicopters based here. Business and private charters, flight instruction, and helicopter traffic make up a large percentage of daily operations. We currently have no cargo operations, but we can accommodate them with our available building sites. We see a lot of East Coast business travel, destinations as far away as Canada and the Caribbean, and a lot of flights to Florida in the winter. Non-business charters are frequently used for hunting and fishing trips and by people attending professional sporting events. On occasion we receive visitors who are traveling to the Omni Bedford Springs Resort, and the Bedford Fall Foliage Festival draws a lot of visitor air traffic.
Q: What accommodations do you provide?
Veach: We have a corporate hangar and office space available. Our fixed-base operator, Bun Air Corporation, offers aircraft on-demand charter, fuel, aircraft maintenance, flight training, and aircraft management. We have 5 future building sites available, ranging in size from 0.41 acres to 9.32 acres, enrolled in the Airport Land Development Zone program. This incentive-based tax credit program fosters development by providing a $2,100 per-job tax credit to approved businesses operating within an ALDZ. We do have a conference room available for business travelers, but it’s not utilized too much. Bun Air offers courtesy cars for travelers, which get used frequently. We’re not like a commercial airport with a lot of other traveler amenities or services, because most people don’t have to hang around very long. There’s no TSA line or lengthy check-in process, they pull in, meet their pilot, board the aircraft and take off to their next destination.
Q: How do you support the local manufacturing and business community?
Veach: We are a gateway for business and recreational travelers. Our rural location means no traffic to contend with, no airport lines, just quick, easy, affordable access just minutes from your car to the air.
Q: What are your size and weight limits?
Veach: With a 5,005 foot by 75 foot runway, the Bedford County Airport is ideally suited for B-II class aircraft such as the Cessna Citation CJ3, but we currently house a Falcon 900 as well, and routinely see Challenger 350 and Gulfstream G450 aircraft.
Q: What are the benefits of your location?
Veach: We’re adjacent to Bedford County Business Park I, and only a few minutes from I-99 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and not far from I-68. We’re less than a two-hour drive to Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Washington, DC, Baltimore, and Morgantown. We’re also less than a 30-minute flight to most major cities in the northeast.
Q: What does the future look like for the airport, how much demand is there?
Veach: We are currently in the design phase of constructing a new box hangar to house a single jet, but we do have available space for 1 or 2 business-class jets in a shared hangar. We also have ample space for expansion and are seeking build-to-suit lease partners.