Essential Air Service Journey - Day 4 - Contour Airlines - Parkersburg, WV to Charlotte

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Want to see just the landing? The takeoff? Check out the guide below.
Welcome to day four of my essential air service journey. This morning, we are checking out our first EAS jet service, on Contour Airlines. Their parent company, Corporate Flight Management, has been around for over 40 years, operating business charters and operating a part 145 repair station at their HQ in Smyrna. Five years ago, they started commercial service using JetStream 41 aircraft. They operated for several smaller airlines before operating under a new brand, Contour. The airline is unique, as all their EAS flying is under the Alternate EAS program. This provides them with more flexibility with service frequency/equipment/destination. However, they rarely divert from typical EAS standards. They have brough reliable jet service to many communities, including Beckley and Parkersburg, after these locations suffered from unreliable service (mainly Via Air). Recently (after this video), the airline offered their first destination connecting two hubs (Greenville, MS). They also started expanding non-subsidized routes along the East Coast and began growing a BNA base Make sure to check out my full review of their services on Trip Advisor. Next week, we will take a look at one of my favorite EAS airlines. Thanks for visiting, enjoy the video!
Highlights:
Intro: 00:00
Departing Parkersburg, WV (PKB): 04:10
Arriving in Beckley (BKW): 07:10
Deaprting BKW: 11:30
Arriving in CLT: 17:30

Опубликовано:

26 июл 2024

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Комментарии : 12

@gnash615guy3 11 месяцев назад

My wife and I are flying Contour for the first time in October on a brand new route they just started up in Owensboro, KY to Chicago O'Hare. We both can't wait to have an aisle/window each haha.

@user-pq1kc6hn2y 2 месяца назад

How was your flight? I’m using Contour for the first time in August.

@GerardiAviation 2 года назад

Great video! Still need to try Contour

@wesgregg6451 2 года назад

So, about 32 minutes to fly from Parkersburg to Beckley? Actual flight time, I mean? That's not bad for a small plane, I suppose. I wonder what the maximum altitude is for those things... One assumes that they don't reach 38,000+ feet. By the way, your in-video comments about your flight being late reminded me that I once heard the bullet train service in Japan will refund your fare and... something else that I do not recall, if your train is late - and that they consider a train to be officially late if it's something like five minutes later than scheduled. The average delay for a Shinkansen train is around 20 seconds. For other trains operated by others railways companies, it is approximately 50 seconds. In both cases, the average delay is less than a minute. They must be pretty serious about passenger transport in Japan.

@tpajay 2 года назад

The size of the aircraft doesn't have much meaning, for time, if it's pure jet engines. This aircraft used by Contour is an ERJ 135. It's maximum ceiling is 37,000 ft. & maximum cruise is 517 MPH. The much larger Boeing 737-800 series maximum ceiling is 41,000 ft. & only 4 MPH faster at 521 MPH maximum cruise.

@wesgregg6451 2 года назад

@@tpajay I was thinking that it would require additional fuel to climb to a relatively high altitude, fuel that wouldn't be recovered by flying through the less dense air due to the shortness of the trip. However, that was purely an uneducated guess.

@tpajay 2 года назад

Did you show the departure times incorrectly? None of them were an hour delay & BKW leg was only 42 minutes behind. Did you notice the 2 story white block building next to the PKB terminal? That was their terminal until they built the present one around 1980. It served 3 airlines up through the 1960s with as many as 3 airliners parked at the same time. AL had 8 CV580 departures a day, LC had 4 CV580 departures & PI had 4 M404 daily trips. I was on the last pure jet flight by a major into PKB. It was a US BAC 1-11 that flew PIT-CRW-PKB-PIT. That was around 1981. The next day, US replaced the 3 daily jets (DC9S & BAC 1-11) with 6 commuter trips to PIT on Shorts 330 equipment.

@wesgregg6451 2 года назад

Parkersburg, WV used to be a (relatively) popular destination. That whole region, actually. There was a *lot* of business in that area for more than a century and, before that, it was some of the most productive farm land in the country. Now, it's... Well... Er... Hmm. There was an Amtrak station there for (figuratively) five minutes, right when that entity was created. But even that required some shady politicking. And, now, it would not even be physically possible to ride a train eastward out of Parkersburg, as far as I know, even were passenger train service to return. Sad. . . .

@tpajay 2 года назад

@@wesgregg6451 The Amtrak station in Parkersburg was used for several years (almost 7). When Amtrak came into being in Sept. 1971, Amtrak had The West Virginian operate between Washington DC & Parkersburg. In 1972, Amtrak used different turbo charged engines & renamed the train the Potomac Turbo & then just the Potomac Special. The service ended in May 1973. In 1976, a new Amtrak service started between DC & Cincinnati with a stop in Parkersburg in each direction. It was called The Shenandoah & lasted 5 years until 1981. In 1981, Amtrak cut several trains because of costs. All the stops on the line were discontinued; not just Parkersburg. Many cities, both big & small, lost Amtrak service in 1981. My hometown, Columbus (population 905,748) lost Amtrak the same year.

@wesgregg6451 2 года назад

@@tpajay Thank you for posting that information. I was unaware that passenger service briefly returned in 1976.

@KMJOAviation 2 года назад

Hello! Regarding the delay, both were about 1 hour (I just rounded since it was close to an hour). I love reading the history on these smaller airports. Thanks for sharing!