WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL: THE $85 BILLION in across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration have begun to affect places like Garden City, the Kansas county seat (pop. 26,880) whose airport will lose $318,756 in Federal Aviation Administration funds that pay for four air traffic controllers. As The Post’s Stephanie McCrummen reported, Garden City Regional Airport’s control tower is one of 238 affected by sequestration, which will reduce total FAA spending in fiscal 2013 from about $16.7 billion to $16.1 billion. Small towns are lamenting the potential impact on air safety and local economies.
Another case of sequestration madness? The increased safety risk is likely to be marginal at worst. At Garden City, only two commercial jets take off and land per day — connecting to and from Dallas — and one already does so when the tower is closed. As for local economies, the federal government already spends many billions of dollars in pursuit of prosperity for rural America. Though undoubtedly nice for the folks who benefit, one might well question the national interest in subsidizing a couple of flights a day between Garden City and Dallas.
Garden City’s predicament does illustrate the senselessness of sequestration in a different way. Its airport is one of 120 in 49 states (not including Alaska) that receive federal support under the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. Established in 1978 as a 10-year measure to help small towns adjust to airline deregulation, EAS has mushroomed into a seemingly permanent $200 million-a-year subsidy, fiercely defended by rural lawmakers from both parties. EAS pays airlines to provide scheduled flights to and from places with so few passengers that it wouldn’t make sense to operate there otherwise. That is to say, it subsidizes inessential air service… (more)
EDITOR: The Lancaster airport is a recipient of funding from EAS. It is as though Harrisburg International isn’t 45 minutes away! Even with the subsidies, it is difficult to maintain commercial flights due to lack of passenger interest.
