WVU spends nearly $800,000 to lease plane

WVU officials have used the university's leased plane for morethan 300 trips in the past two years - at an annual cost of$798,750.

Between Jan. 1, 2007, and Sept. 30, 2008, WVU officials took atotal of 306 trips on the university's leased plane, according torecords requested by The Dominion Post under the Freedom ofInformation Act.

WVU spokeswoman Becky Lofstead said all the trips were foruniversity business, including administrative meetings, alumnievents and professional conferences. She added that the plane helpsWVU officials conduct business in "an efficient and effectivemanner."

As an example, Lofstead said a WVU administrator might report tothe office in the morning for meetings, fly to Charleston forbusiness and return later that day for other university activities.

"It's a business tool, really," Lofstead said. "It's a way tomaximize - and value - a person's time in multiple venues and withmultiple constituents in a given day."

"With no commercial service from Morgantown to any destination inWest Virginia, where the bulk of our flights go, and limited flightsto other frequent regional destinations - D.C., for example -engaging in the air travel services contract I described becomes themost financially economical, time-efficient and safest option forWVU," Lofstead said.

She said faculty, staff and officials at WVU also take commercialflights "when it's more practical and economical."

The most common destination for the WVU plane was Charleston. WVUofficials traveled there a total of 196 times.

Lofstead said university business conducted in Charleston oftenincludes meetings with alumni and donors, state and governmentofficials, and education officials.

WVU officials also attend meetings at the university's Charlestonarea divisions - the WVU Institute of Technology and the Charlestonbranch of the WVU Health Sciences Center.

The most common out-of-state destination was Washington, D.C. WVUofficials have taken a total of 37 trips to the nation's capitalsince January 2007.

Interim WVU President C. Peter Magrath - who lives in nearby GlenEcho, Md., and works as a senior presidential adviser to the CollegeBoard in Washington, D.C. - has been a passenger on 15 of thoseflights, and his wife has been a passenger on two.

Lofstead said the trips to and from Washington, D.C., were foruniversity business and trips to Magrath's home.

"When President Magrath was selected as the interim president, itwas made an element of his employment agreement that air travel toand from his home in Washington, D.C., would be provided by theuniversity," Lofstead said.

The agreement also allows Magrath's wife - Washington Postombudsman Deborah C. Howell - to use the plane for universitybusiness.

WVU signed a 10-year lease agreement with LJ Associates ofLatrobe, Pa., for airplane service in 1999, but Lofstead said thecontract has been extended through 2014.

The university's leased aircraft is a seven-passenger BeechcraftSuper King Air B200, though another plane is sometimes used as asubstitute.