Feb
3
“Essential” Air Service?
February 3, 2011 | Leave a Comment
OK, so there’s a new “Essential Air Service” provider for 7 Montana towns. But there are critics of the EAS program, including the Cranky Flier, who posted about it in 2008. Here’s some Montana-specific stuff:
I’m guessing New York, West Virginia, Montana, Kansas, and Nebraska had some pretty powerful senators who made sure the airlines kept flying to every tiny town no matter how close they are to each other. Every vote counts, right? How about Glasgow and Wolf Point, Montana? They’re only 54 miles apart, but they both get EAS subsidies.
Lewistown, Montana takes the cake for having the lowest load factor last year. They had an unbelievable .6 passengers per flight. Yes, there’s a decimal point in front of that number. It’s impossible to succeed in a place like that unless the government wants to bump up its subsidy a LOT. I mean, that’s a 3% load factor on a 19 seat plane. And we’re paying to keep that going.
ALSO: Emilie Boyles has a report on some concerns about the Gulfstream move into Montana.