Posted on 10/13/2009 11:56:13 AM PDT by kellynla
(snip)
Consider these ticket prices and taxpayer subsidies:
-- Cape Girardeau, Mo., to St. Louis: ticket price $189, taxpayer subsidy $1,939.
-- Glendive Mont., to Billings: ticket price $233, taxpayer subsidy $2,526.
-- Alamogordo, N.M., to Albuquerque: ticket price $192, taxpayer subsidy $2,270
-- Harve, Mont., to Billings: ticket price $233, taxpayer subsidy, $2887
-- Ely, Nev., to Denver: ticket price $300, taxpayer subsidy $4,504.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I just caught that piece. I didn’t see the subsidy from Murtha International to Washington, DC....
hh
OK, this one is using FALSE DATA....
That “Subsidy” figure is PER FLIGHT, and by Federal law, is capped at a MAXIMUM of $200 per passenger.
I’m going to pull up the EAS contracts now, but if I recall the Pacific Wings Airlines CURRENT subsidy for Alamagordo is around $700 PER FLIGHT, and less than $100 per passenger.
Yet another huge waste of our tax dollars.
It would seem that the people who elect to live in these small towns that have subsidized airfares should pay the full ticket price just like the Americans who live in larger cities.
It is time that we got these small town folks off the government dole.
I don’t care what the cost is...
I’m tired paying for others.
GET A JOB AND PAY YOUR OWN WAY!
“The most well-known is the John Murtha Airport in western Pennsylvania, a monument to powerful Democratic congressman John Murtha that has received about $200 million in federal money in the past 15 years.
The airport averages 20 passengers a day for its three commercial flights to Washington, D.C.
“It’s a breeze to get through security, [there are] no crowds and it’s right in your backyard,” one passenger at the Murtha Airport told ABC News in April. “Definitely nicer than packing up early in the morning and traveling to Pittsburgh.”
The federal government provides a subsidy for every flight into the Murtha Airport of about $100 dollars per passenger but, even with the subsidy, there are plenty of empty seats.”
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=8606700
And if you’d read the article, you’d have seen where it said the cap is routinely ignored.
OK...
Here is the EAS proposal of Pacific Wings Airlines/DBA as “Kentucky Skies”, for Ownesboro, ky and Jackson Tenn., which have been without air service for 20 months because of the bankruptcy of Big Sky Airlines.
http://www.semissourian.com/files/pacific-wings-proposal-for-jackson-owensboro.pdf
EAS costs have risen dramaticly because:
A) Fuel Prices
B) Clinton’s mid-90’s rules changes for Regional Airlines has basicly DESTROYED the Industry. There is now just ONE comapny still flying 19-passenger EAS in the United States, and that is Cheyenne-based Great Lakes Airlines.
A few small New Entrants, like Hawaii-based Pacific Wings, and Mass-based Cape Air, have gotten in to the game because they fly SMALL, single-pilot 8 passenger planes not subject to Clinton’s disaster.
FAA slot limitations ALSO screw the EAS cities, and companies, because they cannot get slot access in to places like O’Hare, National, and La Guardia, which is where the business travelers want to go. In ground stops, an almost daily condition at these three airports, the FIRST cities screwed are the close-in, low traffic, EAS cities, further eroding the traffic bases because of the enreliability.
That's what I thought...
Don't come lecturing to me about W...O...R...K!
You couldn't carry my boots.
I hate repeating myself...”PAY YOUR OWN WAY”
I tried to get my husband from S. Florida to Roswell a couple of years ago without having to pick him up in Albuquerque. The flight schedules were awful, he would have had to spend a night somewhere. We ended up driving to Albuquerque to pick him up. I tried to fly him in to Alamogordo instead as well, and it was the same.
I remember years ago (not sure but probably in the 1980s and early 90s) we had lots of flights in and out of Midland TX, most of the airlines flew there. I even flew from Albuquerque to Midland with a stop in Roswell. Then, for some reason, most of the airlines stopped flying those routes.
If you look at where it is “Ignored”, it’s in Murthaville, and several remote Alaskan towns. And in all of these articles, they lump the Alaska Air taxi’s in with lower 498 commercial services...
And the example they use is false, because the next flight could very well have 17 pax. The FAA pays them per departure, not per pax, and if the subsidy exceeds $200 per pax, the FAA ends subsidies for that airport. This amount of subsidy hasn’t been changed since the early 80’s, despite cost increases in the 1000’s of percent.
In 2006, Visalia Airport had 5,141 boardings, so basicly multiply that by 2, to find boardings and off-loadings.
“Then, for some reason, most of the airlines stopped flying those routes.”
Clinton changed the FAA rules for small airlines in 1994, basicly destroying the Regional Airline Industry in America. The “Pennies per pasenger”costs of this legislation, described in his speech, were actually around $100 per pax for most of the small airlines.
Now, “regional” airlines are nothing more than contracted jet flyers for the big guys.
Also, the $200 per pax subsidy hasn’t changed sinced 1981, while costs have risen substantially.
EXAMPLE-
At the airline I worked for in the 1994, a Fairchild Metro cost just about $300 an hour to fly, “Fully-funded”, which means accounting for ALL company costs per flight hour, including fuel and crew. Today, that same aircraft costs around $1,200 an hour to fly, and fuel costs only account for around $200 of that, at today’s prices.
Thanks. You seem to have more knowledge than the reporter. Not that that’s a high bar.
It’s what I do for a living....
Paying million of dollars in prok for hobby airports is nothing more than slop for the rich.
You are right on Target.
the Government needs to stop this Socialized Airfare System for small towns and the Government must End All Farm Subsidies.
It is Time to End Socialism in America.
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