SHD: Front door to the Valley

You don’t see 90 percent of what goes on at Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport.

“Many times when businesses, companies and individuals are looking at investing in the region, they’re going to arrive through the airport. They’re not going to take the bus to town. That’s the old saying. They’ll arrive on an aircraft. We see ourselves as being the front door to the community and ambassadors for the community, and we take that responsibility very seriously,” said Greg Campbell, the executive director at SHD.

Corporate flights make up 90 percent of the operations at the Weyers Cave facility. Industries moving executives, middle managers and maintenance personnel to their Valley operations make up the bulk of that activity.

But that’s the part that you don’t see. There’s plenty going on with the 10 percent that you do know about with the news from the past few weeks about the arrival of the new

United Express carrier, Silver Airways, and the news that beginning Nov. 20 Frontier Airlines will begin a three-day-a-week schedule of nonstop flights to Orlando, Fla.

To accommodate all the new commercial-flight activity, SHD recently completed a $2 million renovation of the airline terminal to add space for the new travelers and improve security.

“The passenger experience has been greatly enhanced with the renovations to the terminal. It makes the whole process go that much more smoothly,” Campbell said.

That goes back to the first-impressions theory that motivates the staff at the airport on a daily basis.

“We strive to maintain the best of facilities, and to make the passenger experience not only exceptional, but also make it efficient. Because this is the front door to the community,” Campbell said.