Review of Southern Airways Express flight Morgantown → Pittsburgh in Economy

Report No: 2022-606

Dear folks,

Welcome to this brand new US domestic series which I would cover 2 different airlines and 6 segments which was a pretty eventful trip as I had multiple interruptions during the trip as my schedule changed more than multiple times.

I have originally booked two one-ways on Southern Airways Express and Boutique Air to experience flight covered by the Essential Flight Act onboard small jets which are both offering flights from the Washington DC - Baltimore area to Pittsburgh with a one-night stay in Pittsburgh in between. The pricing of these tickets are so low that you could fly for more than half of a legacy carrier from the DC area to Pittsburgh and it's even cheaper if you terminate your journey at a small regional airport.

The second part of the series would be onboard the Cessna 208 from Morgantown to Pittsburgh which would eventually be my shortest ever flight in terms of mileage as this flight would only be 61 miles. Before this flight, Philadelphia to Washington Reagan was my personal shortest which I covered several of my flights on that route here on Flight-Report.

The routing for this trip would be revealed part by part

Loads for this flight

2 out of 9 passenger seats were occupied 

MORGANTOWN MUNICIPAL AIRPORT - MGW

After arriving from my previous flight, I was asked to go landside since the TSA agents were not ready and the secure area hasn't been open so it was time to explore the terminal.

Southern Airways Express is the only carrier operating scheduled flights of Morgantown Municipal Airport. 

Photos from the terminal

At the terminal, the only facilities were a Turkish restaurant ( not joking ) and a vending machine

There was also limited seating.
Here is the TSA checkpoint that opened about 30 minutes till departure which was the earliest I could go airside. 

As the flight to IAD that evening had no passengers and the flight to PIT only had two, the checkpoint was empty and security wasn't a hassle as the officers were not in a rush. 

After going airside, I have spotted this Cessna 441

This Cessna 208C that brought me to Morgantown and returning back to Washington Dulles that evening.

And N9642F which would be the Cessna 208C taking us to Pittsburgh that evening.

After both of us ( the passengers ) cleared security, the first officer and the ground staff told us that we were ready to board. I was assigned a seat at the second row, while the other passenger was assigned a seat in the third row.

A last look at the terminal of Morgantown

9X 111 MORGANTOWN MUNICIPAL AIRPORT TO PITTSBURGH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

The seats for today's flight. They were tight and the legroom wasn't perfect but when the plane was empty, it makes a lot of difference compared to a full cabin.

The first officer has provided us the safety briefing and we were on our way to Pittsburgh

Engines started an we were on our way

At the runway

And we took off towards the south

Beautiful landscape at West Virginia

A Walmart store

Still gaining altitude

Over Morgantown, WV

The seatback pocket had the Cloud Nine magazine as well as a safety card.
For this short flight, I decided to entertain myself by solving the Sudoku puzzle at the Cloud Nine magazine.

As the flight was very short, a couple of minutes later, we were already over Pittsburgh

Photos of Downtown Pittsburgh

A suburb of Pittsburgh

We're almost there at the airport

And we have landed ahead of schedule at Pittsburgh International Airport and the first aircraft that were visible were US Army aircraft

This Wiggins Airways C208B was in line to take-off to State College, PA for a freight only flight for FedEx, just after we left the runway.

British Airways 787 at the international concourse, an Allegiant A319/320 at the other concourse

N335NV was apparently at long term storage at the time this photo was taken

American Eagle E-175 also parking for a couple of days at Pittsburgh waiting for it's next flight, 2 days later than this photo was taken

And after a short taxi, we have parked at gate B41.

While we have parked, this Southwest 737-700 was taxiing to the runway for the second leg of WN 1289 which is PIT-ATL out of MDW-PIT-ATL-MYR

PITTSBURGH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - PIT

After thanking the first officer, I have left the aircraft and took the last photo of the 35 year old Cessna which brought me to Pittsburgh.

We were asked to go inside the terminal via this ramp and jetbridge.

That evening, N9642F was going to operate the final Southern Airways Express flight which was to DuBois.

The end of the concourse was closed and some gates were out of service. That explains why aircraft which was at long term storage parked in front of those gates.

For a few minutes, there were no aircraft and passenger in sight

Where some people started to appear when I got closer to the American Airlines gates.

FIDS for the day

In order to go to the main terminal, it is necessary to go downstairs and take the transit to the main building.

The first car of the transit was blocked and reserved to arriving British Airways customers at that time, since they need to exit and could not remain airside without clearing security in the USA.

After disembarking the transit, since we were mixed with arriving BA passengers, we needed to exit and the way back to the concourse was blocked by a wall.

After taking the escalator down, I was at the arrivals hall

As I was going to take bus 28X downtown, I have followed the signs and found that it was going to depart from Door 2.

At that time, there was a chariot at the same bay.

However, after some point, the bus arrived

And, I was on my way to my hotel in Downtown Pittsburgh for the night.

This report has come to an end. The series would continue with the next episode that would be published soon.
Thanks for reading and hope to see you at another Flight-Report.