CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- America's airlines have already cut passenger capacity by 11 percent nationally in response to high fuel costs and a sluggish economy, and passenger demand is expected to drop slightly more during the next two years, then remain flat through 2014.

Those were among observations Yeager Airport Director Rick Atkinson made on Wednesday during a meeting of the airport's governing board, following his attendance of an aviation forecast conference held earlier this month in Colorado by The Boyd Group.

The outlook is not quite so grim for passengers using Yeager Airport, according to Atkinson. The Charleston airport has bucked the national trend of diminished passenger capacity, and has seen its number of available seats increase by 2.5 percent because of the use of larger regional jets by airlines serving Yeager.

While passenger boarding numbers will likely remain flat at Yeager during the next few years, Atkinson said, the Charleston airport should be slightly better off than many airports. He said Yeager's increased seat capacity and relatively high percentage of international and business travelers, who pay substantially higher fares than leisure travelers, give the Charleston airport a small advantage.

"In terms of making money for the airlines, one international passenger is better than 10 people flying to Orlando," Atkinson said. International passengers generate nearly one-fourth of Yeager's ticket revenue, he added.

"Our energy sector is doing well and our auto industry is still strong, with Toyota," Atkinson said. "We may not have as big a dip as many of the other places, but I think our growth will be fairly flat."

Atkinson said airlines have cut capacity as much as 20 percent at airports primarily serving leisure travelers, such as Las Vegas and Orlando.

In other developments Wednesday, the board accepted an agreement with the four rental car companies operating at Yeager that guarantees the airport a total of slightly more than $3 million over the next four years.

Following a bid process, the same four companies that have been operating at Yeager will return to the airport's new two-story rental car facility. They are Avis, Hertz, National and Enterprise.

Rental cars supplied by Budget also will be available under the new contract, since Budget is a subsidiary of Avis. Avis and Budget will share the same vendor facility at Yeager, as do National and its Alamo subsidiary.

Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelham...@wvgazette.com or 348-5169.

Those were among observations Yeager Airport Director Rick Atkinson made on Wednesday during a meeting of the airport's governing board, following his attendance of an aviation forecast conference held earlier this month in Colorado by The Boyd Group.

The outlook is not quite so grim for passengers using Yeager Airport, according to Atkinson. The Charleston airport has bucked the national trend of diminished passenger capacity, and has seen its number of available seats increase by 2.5 percent because of the use of larger regional jets by airlines serving Yeager.

While passenger boarding numbers will likely remain flat at Yeager during the next few years, Atkinson said, the Charleston airport should be slightly better off than many airports. He said Yeager's increased seat capacity and relatively high percentage of international and business travelers, who pay substantially higher fares than leisure travelers, give the Charleston airport a small advantage.

"In terms of making money for the airlines, one international passenger is better than 10 people flying to Orlando," Atkinson said. International passengers generate nearly one-fourth of Yeager's ticket revenue, he added.

"Our energy sector is doing well and our auto industry is still strong, with Toyota," Atkinson said. "We may not have as big a dip as many of the other places, but I think our growth will be fairly flat."

Atkinson said airlines have cut capacity as much as 20 percent at airports primarily serving leisure travelers, such as Las Vegas and Orlando.

In other developments Wednesday, the board accepted an agreement with the four rental car companies operating at Yeager that guarantees the airport a total of slightly more than $3 million over the next four years.

Following a bid process, the same four companies that have been operating at Yeager will return to the airport's new two-story rental car facility. They are Avis, Hertz, National and Enterprise.

Rental cars supplied by Budget also will be available under the new contract, since Budget is a subsidiary of Avis. Avis and Budget will share the same vendor facility at Yeager, as do National and its Alamo subsidiary.

Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelham...@wvgazette.com or 348-5169.