
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 19, 1991                   TAG: 9103190012
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

AIRPORT BOARDINGS DOWN 14%

Passenger boardings at Roanoke Regional Airport took a sharp drop last month, reflecting a general decline in the airline industry nationally from the dual impact of the recession and the Persian Gulf War.

The local airport said Monday that 19,423 passengers boarded planes in February, down 14.4 percent from 22,679 in January and 14 percent from 22,579 in February 1990. The numbers reflect passengers on regularly scheduled and charter flights.

Other statistics added this week to the regional economic index:

Consumption of electricity fell a slight 3.7 percent last month to 271,998,185 kilowatt hours, compared with 282,473,648 kilowatt hours in January, up 2.7 percent from 264,871,087 kilowatt hours a year earlier, according to Appalachian Power's sales.

Area banks cleared checks worth $144,361,631 against each other in the week ended March 15, a 1.9 percent drop from $147,113,021 in the week ended March 8 and a 46.3 percent decline from $269,036,455 in the corresponding week a year earlier, according to the Roanoke regional clearinghouse.

Norfolk Southern Corp. said it loaded 20,305 rail cars at its Pocahontas coal fields in the week ended March 17, down 2.8 percent from 20,882 the previous week and 0.9 percent from 20,492 a year ago.

by CNB