In the midst of the worst economic recession in 80 years, most airline flights across the country are full this summer. Flights in June on US Airways, which maintains a major operation at Washington’s Reagan National Airport, were 86 percent full, an all-time record for the month. But one federal program is keeping some planes flying nearly empty to small towns across the country.
The Airline Deregulation Act, passed in 1978, opened the skies to enhanced competition, increased service and lower fares for American air travelers. Gone were the days of the regulative Civil Aeronautics Board, a federal agency that told airlines where to fly and how much to charge.
In turn, airlines adjusted their route networks, flying planes on more profitable routes with stronger passenger demand. But to prevent airlines from abandoning small towns altogether, the federal government created Essential Air Service, a federally funded program that subsidizes airline service to rural communities.
The 746 cities that received air service before airline deregulation are guaranteed, under the terms of EAS, to maintain some form of passenger air service. So long as the city is farther than 70 driving miles from a hub airport, it is eligible to receive federally subsidized flights.
Today, 153 communities — 108 in the lower 48 and 45 in Alaska — receive federally funded air service. Airlines, almost always small regional carriers, sign two-year contracts with the Department of Transportation. In exchange for guaranteed revenue, the regional carriers offer scheduled service — usually three daily roundtrips on 19-seat Beechcraft 1900 or 34-seat Saab 340 turboprops — to rural communities.
In many cases, EAS leaves taxpayers out to subsidize flights with minimal passenger demand. Take Decatur, Ill., for example, an 80,000-resident town with three daily subsidized flights to St. Louis. According to the most recent data from the Department of Transportation, each flight averages just over one passenger, resulting in a per-passenger government subsidy of $609.87. That’s each way, too.
Decatur, like many EAS cities in the eastern half of the country, isn’t hard to access. Located along U.S. Interstate 72, Decatur is less than 50 miles from the Central Illinois Regional Airport, which sees daily scheduled airline service to Dallas, Detroit and Chicago, among other cities.
Even popular AirTran Airways flies there, offering Decatur residents low-fare service to Atlanta and Orlando. Other accessible, EAS-subsidized cities include Lancaster, Pa. — 32 miles from Harrisburg International Airport — and Macon, Ga., an hour’s drive from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, the world’s busiest airport.
In 2006, the Bush administration fought, unsuccessfully, to cut the EAS budget to $50 million, limiting federal funding to remote outposts like Presque Isle, Maine, and Adak, Alaska, where airline service really is essential. Under the Democrat-controlled Congress, however, EAS is getting even bigger.
In July, the House appropriations subcommittee approved President Barack Obama’s funding request for EAS, increasing the program’s annual budget by 40 percent to $173 million. And even though Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has promised to redesign EAS to “provide better value for passengers and the American taxpayer,” there’s no sign of any changes.
Contrary to suggestions by EAS proponents, cutting EAS subsidies on the worst-performing routes might not deliver much of an economic blow to rural communities. Often, the employee helping with check-in at the airport is the same employee to load the baggage, fuel the aircraft and board the passengers. And flights that average just a handful of daily passengers can’t be generating much business and tourism revenue for these communities, either.
It makes little sense to continue wasting money on something that has such a small effect. Congress should ground these taxpayer-subsidized flights to nowhere.
