Airplanes To Nowhere

[WhoozOn1st]

Next time AU readers hear somebody gripe about taxpayers getting stuck for Amtrak funding, they might like to offer this example as a bit of counterpoint:

Planes to nowhere? Rural air subsidies may increase

"In 2008, according to Senate Appropriations Committee data, Great Lakes Airlines received a subsidy of about $1.8 million for the 414 passengers it flew to and from Ely [Nevada] -- about $4,500 per person."

_______________________________

Four thousand, five hundred dollars per person. Using our Amtrak Unlimited 3rd Annual Gathering at Boston (CHOWDAH!!) as travel dates, I visited Great Lakes Airlines and priced a single-passenger round trip between Ely, Nevada, and Moab, Utah. Two nowheres. Non-refundable: $203 ($184.18 + $18.82 tax). Refundable any time: $303 ($277.20 + $25.80 tax).

 

[AlanB]

I've used EAS more than once in various online newspaper forums. I've even got the entire spreadsheet that shows how much each city is getting.

 

[PRR 60]

$50 million of the EAS finding comes from oversight fees: a charge levied on air carriers who use USA ATC but do not land in the USA. The rest comes from general tax revenue, just like Amtrak's funding.

The EAS program was started with deregulation of air carriers under Jimmy Carter. The fear was that deregulation would result in small, rural airports losing all air service. It was originally paid entirely from oversight fees. Now those fees pay about 1/3 of the cost. In many ways the EAS is like Amtrak. Every administration, Republican and Democrat, wants to cut it. Each time Congress saves it. Sound familiar?