North Central West Virginia Airport


North Central West Virginia Airport is a public/military airport a mile northeast of Bridgeport and six miles east of Clarksburg, in Harrison County, West Virginia. It is owned and operated by the Benedum Airport Authority, serving Harrison and Marion County, and was formerly Benedum Airport and Harrison-Marion Regional Airport. The airport sees two airlines, with some passenger service subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.
Federal Aviation Administration records say the airport had 36,917 passenger boardings in calendar year 2018, 25,105 in 2017 and 10,694 in 2010. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a primary commercial service airport.

History

The airport opened in 1935 as the Tri-County Airport, a joint effort of Harrison, Marion and Taylor County. It was a grass airstrip on leased land. In 1937 Marion and Taylor County withdrew from the project; in 1938 Harrison County purchased land to expand the airport. In 1944 the airport was renamed Benedum Airport after Michael L. Benedum.
In the 1950s the airport had 3719-foot runway 5 and 2978-foot runway 16; around 1964 both were replaced by 5200-ft runway 3 and 2500-ft runway 13. The first airline flights were Capital DC-3s in 1949; Lake Central replaced Capital at the end of 1960, and successor Allegheny's last Convair left about the end of 1977. The runway was extended to in 1999.
The current airport authority was established in 1960.
Enplanements for 2018 were 36,917 up from 25,105 the year before, a 47% increase. In August 2019 West Virginia governor Jim Justice came to the airport to announce a $20 million dollar investment to be made at the airport: a new terminal, taxiways, and more space for economic development.

Facilities

The airport covers 434 acres at an elevation of 1,224 feet. Its single one runway, 3/21, is 7,800 by 150 feet long. It has one helipad, 50 by 50 feet
In the year ending October 31, 2011 the airport had 24,600 aircraft operations, average 67 per day: 54% military, 35% general aviation, 10% air taxi, and <1% airline. 80 aircraft were then based at this airport: 61% single-engine, 20% multi-engine, 4% jet, and 15% military.

Airlines and destinations

Scheduled passenger service:
Destinations map

Statistics

Top destinations