University Park Airport adds another ‘special event’ flight for local Penn State football fans
Local Penn State fans could be in for a unique season of traveling.
University Park Airport, which previously announced several limited-time, nonstop flights to new destinations to coincide with Penn State sporting events, officially added another new destination Wednesday — for the Nittany Lions’ Oct. 9 away game at the Iowa Hawkeyes.
The airport currently has one nonstop, roundtrip flight available from State College to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The plane is scheduled to take off 6 p.m. Oct. 8 with a Happy Valley return slated for 11:22 a.m. Oct. 10.
Normally, such a flight would require at least one connection. But United Airlines announced the move in a Wednesday news release and, as of Wednesday afternoon, basic economy for the United round-trip flight stands at $361.
“Special event” routes aren’t unusual in the airline industry, but they do occur sparingly at the small Centre County airport that sees fewer than 200,000 annual passengers. And it’s not known the last time the airport had a nonstop flight to Cedar Rapids.
The flight is expected to last about 2.5 hours.
The University Park Airport typically only has regular nonstop flights to the following destinations: Chicago, Detroit, Orlando/Sanford, Philadelphia, Tampa/St. Petersburg and Washington, D.C.
But, over the last few months, several limited-time destinations have popped up, surrounding the Penn State-Auburn home football game and the Penn State-North Dakota hockey game in Nashville.
Although local football die-hards probably wouldn’t want to miss the Sept. 18 game against Auburn, those uninterested in sports would still be able to take advantage of at least one new travel destination — namely Atlanta, where locals could still leave State College that Friday and return Sunday via nonstop flights.
Here’s a more complete look at the “special event” destinations this fall that still have nonstop flights available:
Flights from State College to Atlanta (Delta): 4:01 p.m. Sept. 17; 11:31 a.m. Sept. 19; 12:59 p.m. Sept. 19
Flights from Atlanta to State College (Delta): 1:25 p.m. Sept. 17; 8:51 a.m. Sept. 19; 10:20 a.m. Sept. 19
Flights from State College to Birmingham (United): 7 a.m. Sept. 19; 8 a.m. Sept. 19
Flights from Birmingham to State College (United): 7 a.m. Sept. 18; 8 a.m. Sept. 18
Flights from State College to Cedar Rapids (United): 6 p.m. Oct. 8
Flights from Cedar Rapids to State College (United): 8 a.m. Oct. 10
Flights from State College to Nashville (Allegiant): 3:34 p.m. Oct. 28; 3:34 p.m. Oct. 31
Flights from Nashville to State College (Allegiant): 5:09 p.m. Oct. 28; 5:09 p.m. Oct. 31
