CHICOPEE — Charter flights will return to Westover Metropolitan Airport for the first time in three years, giving a boost to the small transportation center.
Reney Tours will resume charter flights to Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Saturday night, when a 183-seat Boeing 737-800 Sun Country Airbus takes off from Chicopee.
While Westover has a number of private and corporate planes flying in and out of the airport, this is the first time a charter flight will leave the airport since fall 2020, when they were stopped for several reasons, including COVID-19 travel restrictions.
“It has a small economic impact, and it gives recognition that there is potential to operate out of Westover,” said Andy Widor, president and chief executive officer of Westover Metropolitan Development Corp., which operates the airport.
Mayor John L. Vieau said he is happy to see the return of passenger flights, noting how it shows the potential of the small airport.
“It greatly benefits the region, and I hope it grows,” he said.
The charter flights are specifically designed for people who are casino-certified gamblers. Most people who fly on them do so through a package deal with Caesars Entertainment Inc., which includes the flight, taxes and a three-night stay at a Caesars, Tropicana or Harrah’s hotel, said Kristen Reney Aldieri, president of Reney Tours, of Connecticut.
Generally, certified gamblers are people who are going to spend at least six hours a day playing casino table games and slot machines. The agency can help gamers become certified if they meet certain qualifications, she said.
The inaugural flight will leave Westover at about 8 p.m. It is about 55 minutes nonstop and will land in Atlantic City Airport. The return flight will leave at about 10:45 a.m. and has a layover in Albany, New York, she said.
Reney Tours also has a second charter flight scheduled from Westover, leaving on Oct. 18 and returning Oct. 21, Aldieri said.
One of the biggest advantages of flying out of the small airport is the convenience. There are no problems with traffic or parking, and no congestion inside the airport, since the passengers and staff are usually the only ones in the waiting area, she said.
It is so convenient, Aldieri said, that she has some customers who will only fly out of Westover when they want to go to Atlantic City.
“I’ve pushed and pushed to bring these back,” she said.
In the past, the company has run about a half-dozen flights out of Westover a year, but Aldieri said she is not ready to predict what will happen after October.
“They are a little more difficult to fill in the winter,” she said.
To protect passengers, Westover brings in Transportation Security Administration agents to set up checkpoints before people get on the plane. Police are also hired to add another layer of safety, Widor said.
The resumption of charter flights is one part of a long effort to grow the airport.
One block that hampered the expansion was removed just before the COVID-19 shutdown, when a system was installed to allow pilots to turn on the runway lights automatically if they flew in after the air traffic control tower was closed for the night. The airport has a partnership with Westover Air Reserve Base that allows it to use the Air Force runway and control tower services.
The airport continues to focus on other avenues of growth, including expanding aircraft maintenance there. It is also close to completing the renovations to a third hangar, which it can rent out to owners of private planes, said Michael Bolton, former president and CEO of the airport, who retired a week ago.
