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

DATE: TUESDAY, March 24, 1992                   TAG: 9203240045
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DANIEL HOWES BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BOARDINGS RISE AT AIRPORT

Another sign that the Roanoke Valley may be rising above the recession came Monday, with word that February boardings at Roanoke Regional Airport had increased nearly 3.8 percent over a year earlier.

"Certainly it's encouraging," said Mark Courtney, the airport's marketing director. "We'll see how March goes."

The airport recorded 20,154 passenger boardings in February, up 3.76 percent from the 19,423 in February 1991. But last month's boardings lagged 0.7 percent behind the 20,295 recorded in January.

Courtney said he was "cautiously optimistic" about the upturn. "It's kind of like the economy: We'll wait and see what happens."

Increases in Roanoke boardings are important to airport officials, who worry that flat demand could ultimately lead to reduced service. USAir, blaming low usage and restructured routes, said earlier this month it plans to discontinue service to Richmond from Roanoke.

"We have virtually the same number of seats as last year and yet traffic is off," Courtney said. "It's a healthy environment to have increased demand . . . when you have excess seats" on the planes serving Roanoke Regional.

Roanoke boardings in 1991 were off 11.6 percent from the year before, he said, mirroring the national downturn.

In other regional economic news:

Norfolk Southern Corp. coal loadings for the week ended Sunday were off 2.4 percent from the corresponding week last year. The Norfolk-based railroad loaded 20,283 coal hoppers last week compared to 20,786 for the same week last year.

The February consumer price index increased 0.3 percent over January, going from 138.6 points to 138.1. The CPI in February last year stood at 134.8 points.

by CNB