Passengers through Lynchburg airport up in January despite losing a carrier

More than 11,800 passengers boarded flights in or out of Lynchburg Regional Airport in January, an increase of more than 700 passengers over January 2011. The comparison to last January is important, because Delta stopped its service to Lynchburg on Jan. 3, 2011, leaving US Airways as the airport's only carrier. Airport Director Mark Courtney said the airport "caught up"� with the number of passengers it had before Delta stopped service. He said January's increase not only show more passengers, but is reflective of the all-jet service now in use by US Airways in Lynchburg instead of turbo-propeller aircraft. The airline switched in early winter and is expected to continue for at least the next few months. Most propeller aircraft had 50 seats like the regional jets, but some were 37-seat planes, Courtney said. And some of those propeller planes had limited weight loads, reducing the number of seats that could be sold. "The 50-seat regional jets tend not to be weight restricted,"� he sa