Airline subsides continue after FAA shutdown
If nothing else, the US Congress’s failure to fund the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) that led to a temporary shutdown also shone the spotlight on a problem: subsidized rural airports where taxpayers pay millions in taxes.
The Associated Press said statistics showed that last year just 227 passengers flew out of Ely, Nev. while the airline got US$1.8 million in subsidies. The travelers paid $70 to $90 for a one-way ticket. The cost to taxpayers for each ticket: $4,107.
Ely is one of 153 rural communities where airlines get subsidies through the $200 million Essential Air Service (EAS) program. The airport is one of 13 that critics say should be ended.
Some call the spending a boondoggle, but others see it as a critical financial lifeline to ensure some economic stability in rural areas.
The subsidies battle was a key element that led to the political standoff in Washington that shut down the FAA for nearly two weeks.
The EAS was created to ensure service on less profitable routes to remote communities when airlines were deregulated in 1978.
In 1999 the EAS served 89 communities — 68 in the continental United States, one in Hawaii and 20 in Alaska, according to government figures. Today, it serves 45 in Alaska and 108 elsewhere. Over the last 10 years the budget quadrupled from $50 million to $200 million.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said Ely is one of just three cities in the program that have subsidies higher than $1,000 per passenger. The others are Glendive, Mont., and Alamogordo, N.M.
Mike Coster, Ely's airport manager, said the location between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City is the most remote airport in the continental United States.
"We have no bus service here of any kind, no Greyhound or similar company," Coster told the AP. "It's a small town."
Transportation officials said the EAS program was originally intended to end years ago after decades of subsidies.
By David Wilkening
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