Subsidies keep small-airport flights in the air

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-12-30-cheap-flights_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

 

First few paragraphs:

 

By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY

Imagine an aviation system in which planes fly two-thirds empty, fares are as low as $46 and the government pays up to 93% of the cost of a flight.

 

You don't have to look far. That system exists in the USA — and quietly is expanding even as most of the nation's 2 million daily air travelers see fares tick upward for increasingly crowded flights.

 

Each day, about 3,000 passengers enjoy mostly empty, heavily subsidized flights, financed by a 30-year-old program that requires the government to guarantee commercial air service to scores of small communities that can't support it themselves.Subsidies keep small-airport flights in the air...

Hey, let's not knock what the other guys have, even if it is inefficient. Instead, let's have an essential RAIL services program for those in areas without good rail service. Hmmmm...wait a minute! That's the entire USA outside the Northeast!!! :lol:

 

Seriously, we should have this sort of thing for people in isolated areas...Montana, Idaho, West Virginia and elsewhere.

But the irony is that many of these subsidized air services are between city pairs that could served by fast passenger trains in a far more cost and time efficient manner.  I mean Lnacaster, PA is not only less than two hours from Philly's airport... it sits directly on the Keystone Corridor, which hosts 110-mph passenger service into Philly.

 

 

It also blows me away that Frederick Maryland has (or recently had) at least one Essential Air Services flight. OK, how far is Frederick from BWI? We're not talking Grand Forks, North Dakota here.... Frederick must have a powerful congressman.

Hey, let's not knock what the other guys have, even if it is inefficient. Instead, let's have an essential RAIL services program for those in areas without good rail service. Hmmmm...wait a minute! That's the entire USA outside the Northeast!!! :lol:

 

Seriously, we should have this sort of thing for people in isolated areas...West Virginia...

 

Called the Cardinal in West Virginia, and was saved at the last minute by Democratic Senator Robert C. Byrd. Has some of the most breathtaking scenery in the eastern United States.

^The Cardinal needs to be daily and there should be additional frequencies day scheduled such that there is daylight service along the entire route.  The additional frequencies could be another LD train or separate Cincy-Chicago and Cincy-Washington trains or something similar. 

 

The need for additional frequencies is true for pretty much all of the LD routes.  Furthermore, investment needs to be made to improve on-time performance and track speeds.

 

Hey, let's not knock what the other guys have, even if it is inefficient.

 

It's not about knocking what the other guys have.  It's about perspective and parity.  Rail gets knocked all the time by the many of the same people who support these aviation subsidies.  I have no problem with an essential air services subsidy where it makes sense. 

 

The problem is that Congress and DOT consistently and continuously looking within each mode for solutions to problems that exist within each mode.  We have to stop trying to solve these problems in a vacuum.  Nothing short of a holistic approach to problem solving in our transportation system is going to produce meaningful results. 

^

 

Of course it's about parity. I was just being a little sarcastic/tongue-in-cheek. The Cardinal is the most obvious example of a train which would qualify for such an essential rail services program in this part of the country.

 

Someone should start working with Sen. Byrd and others to create such a fund. The support for this sort of thing could be quite widespread. Consider the following routes:

 

1. Cardinal-Washington-W. Virginia-Cincinnati

2. Cincinnati-eastern Kentucky-Knoxville-Atlanta

3. Chicago-Milwaukee-Green Bay-MI Upper Peninsula

4. Empire Builder route-Minneapolis-N.Dakota-Montana-Spokane

5. Ex Northern Pacific-Minneapolis-Billings-Spokane

6. Salt Lake City-Idaho-Portland

 

The routes shown could be parts of longer routes. Many of these make more sense as a part of a larger whole.

Couldn't the city jump start number 2 since they own the rail line all the way to Chattanooga. Maybe see if Delta would be interested in a side business.

The Hilltopper (R.I.P about 1979, I think) was another West Virginia Amtrak train that should have qualified as an essential service. As I recall, it ran from Kenova (near Huntington) to Washington, D.C., where it picked up a sleeper and became an overnight train to NY (Nightowl?).

 

I rode it near its end. An F40 locomotive pulled two Amfleet coaches and the train was pretty well filled most of the way, although few passengers were going the whole distance. There was a lot of family travel going on between towns maybe 30 - 50 miles apart. It really provided a service for local people.

 

The track was good, the train ran on-time, and the scenery was splendid.

The Hilltopper was a remnant of the Mountaineer, which was really a Kenova-Roanoake-Petersburg-Norfolk section of the Cardinal. It was truncated as a cost cutting move and I think you are right, it ran to Boston as the Night Owl.

I'd love to have the Mountaineer back. Driving to Charlottesville (from Williamsburg) to catch a train to Cincy is a pain.

Cincinnati-Louisville-Nashville-Memphis and points beyond is another one to look at too. 

Couldn't the city jump start number 2 since they own the rail line all the way to Chattanooga. Maybe see if Delta would be interested in a side business.

 

The Cincinnati Southern Railroad is leased to Norfolk Southern (as the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Railway).  But since freight pays better than passenger rail, I can't imagine the service would be very fast.  I'm under the impression that under Ohio law the city is only allowed to use the profits from the lease for debt service.  They make a lot of money from the railroad, so I can't imagine they'd want to do anything to change that.  It's one of the best investments the city has ever made.

That's an interesting question nonetheless and worth looking into further. Any takers?

I'd love to have the Mountaineer back. Driving to Charlottesville (from Williamsburg) to catch a train to Cincy is a pain.

 

You can take a train from Williamsburg to Richmond, then a bus from Richmond to Charlottesville to connect with the Cardinal, but I know a 3-seat ride isn't much better than driving.

I'm under the impression that under Ohio law the city is only allowed to use the profits from the lease for debt service.  They make a lot of money from the railroad, so I can't imagine they'd want to do anything to change that.  It's one of the best investments the city has ever made.

 

Sounds like that law needs to change.  What's the difference what the city used the money for?  Sounds like unnecessary regulation to me. 

 

 

Couldn't the city jump start number 2 since they own the rail line all the way to Chattanooga. Maybe see if Delta would be interested in a side business.

 

The Cincinnati Southern Railroad is leased to Norfolk Southern (as the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Railway).  But since freight pays better than passenger rail, I can't imagine the service would be very fast.  I'm under the impression that under Ohio law the city is only allowed to use the profits from the lease for debt service.  They make a lot of money from the railroad, so I can't imagine they'd want to do anything to change that.  It's one of the best investments the city has ever made.

 

I don't doubt that there is much Cincy could do with it, but I wonder if the city would be able to parley the next lease agreement into some promises about exploring passenger rail or perhaps using ROW for a parallel high-speed passenger train. This all sounds so socialist. Maybe it is really Christian Democratic.

I think we need to know more about the lease agreement the city has with NS and when it might be up for renewal. Chances are it's an extremely long lease, probably 100 years or more and not up for a long time to come, but who knows?

 

The other question is what the city does with the income from this lease. It probably just goes into the city's general fund, but there might be a way to leverage that money with bonds for the trolley line, a new intermodal transportation hub (Cincinnati Union Terminal or some other location), or doing something about regional/intercity rail, including the 3-C Corridor.

 

I'd like to see someone who knows others at City Hall start asking questions. Mayor mallory seems to be pro-rail. Maybe this might be a chance to capitalize on that support.

 

Also, this discussion seems to be moving in another direction. Would someone be willing to start a new thread?

Found this in an NS annual report from 2000:

 

The Cincinnati-Chattanooga lease, covering about 335 miles, expires in 2026, and is subject to an option to extend the lease for an additional 25 years, at terms to be agreed upon.

 

 

I'll see if I can find anything else.

Thomas McOwen, an ORDC Commissioner, is a trustee of the line.  I suggest you contact him about it.  I know for a fact he views this line as a logical passenger rail route between Cincy and Nashville, but also to Atlanta as well (where another municipallly-owned line (I'm told) exists.

 

We're also getting a bit off-topic here.  Some of this discussion belongs on the Ohio Hub or another passenger rail thread.

The other question is what the city does with the income from this lease. It probably just goes into the city's general fund

 

As far as I can tell (from reading the City Biennial Budget) the profits can only be used for debt retirement.

FAA and taxpayers prop up small, little-used airports

 

By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY

The Federal Aviation Administration has given $240 million to upgrade airports owned by businesses and that are used exclusively for private airplanes, a USA TODAY analysis shows.

The money has aided about 50 privately owned airports — many of them little-used — since the mid-1980s, buying items such as runway upgrades, new fences and airplane hangars.

 

The funding is unusual because most airports that get federal grants are owned by cities or counties. Supporting businesses that own airports raises questions about whether public funds should go toward assisting private enterprise.

 

Find this article at:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2009-12-31-private-airports_N.htm 

 

Well it ppears that the subsidy that PIT provided DAL to fly PIT-CDG has run its course.  As a result the flight will be discontinued.  However, it appears that it may resume as a seasonal once or twice weekly service next spring. 

Well it ppears that the subsidy that PIT provided DAL to fly PIT-CDG has run its course.  As a result the flight will be discontinued.  However, it appears that it may resume as a seasonal once or twice weekly service next spring. 

 

Good as I stated in the Portland thread, if these flight had O&D to support these flights, there wouldn't be a subsidy.  With Delta always protecting its fortress hub in ATL and now building up in NYC, the PIT flight was all about money.  Once you arrive in PIT, there was no connecting service and PIT doesn't have what it takes to be a "destination" or "gateway" for those coming into the States.

As has been publically stated, we are decreasing lift on transatlantic, so unless the yields are way up there it was a logical cut.

Well it ppears that the subsidy that PIT provided DAL to fly PIT-CDG has run its course.  As a result the flight will be discontinued.  However, it appears that it may resume as a seasonal once or twice weekly service next spring. 

 

Delta says 4x weekly starting in late-March 2012. I still have doubts it will operate at all. We'll see.

Well it ppears that the subsidy that PIT provided DAL to fly PIT-CDG has run its course.  As a result the flight will be discontinued.  However, it appears that it may resume as a seasonal once or twice weekly service next spring. 

 

Good as I stated in the Portland thread, if these flight had O&D to support these flights, there wouldn't be a subsidy.  With Delta always protecting its fortress hub in ATL and now building up in NYC, the PIT flight was all about money.  Once you arrive in PIT, there was no connecting service and PIT doesn't have what it takes to be a "destination" or "gateway" for those coming into the States.

 

PIT was a spoke for AF/KLM's CDG hub. DL was feeding a SkyTeam partner and generating connection traffic in Europe.

 

Keep in mind that politicians including our Congressmen are the ones that author the legislation that initiates these subsidies, and many of these politicians travel regularly between Washington, D.C. and many out of the way places, such as, say, Minot, North Dakota.

Well it ppears that the subsidy that PIT provided DAL to fly PIT-CDG has run its course.  As a result the flight will be discontinued.  However, it appears that it may resume as a seasonal once or twice weekly service next spring. 

 

Good as I stated in the Portland thread, if these flight had O&D to support these flights, there wouldn't be a subsidy.  With Delta always protecting its fortress hub in ATL and now building up in NYC, the PIT flight was all about money.  Once you arrive in PIT, there was no connecting service and PIT doesn't have what it takes to be a "destination" or "gateway" for those coming into the States.

 

PIT was a spoke for AF/KLM's CDG hub. DL was feeding a SkyTeam partner and generating connection traffic in Europe.

Yeah but it was only one way, correct?  Delta didn't increase services to/from it's hubs to PIT to help with connecting traffic arriving in the States.  This was all about $$$$

Well it ppears that the subsidy that PIT provided DAL to fly PIT-CDG has run its course.  As a result the flight will be discontinued.  However, it appears that it may resume as a seasonal once or twice weekly service next spring. 

 

Good as I stated in the Portland thread, if these flight had O&D to support these flights, there wouldn't be a subsidy.  With Delta always protecting its fortress hub in ATL and now building up in NYC, the PIT flight was all about money.  Once you arrive in PIT, there was no connecting service and PIT doesn't have what it takes to be a "destination" or "gateway" for those coming into the States.

 

PIT was a spoke for AF/KLM's CDG hub. DL was feeding a SkyTeam partner and generating connection traffic in Europe.

Yeah but it was only one way, correct?  Delta didn't increase services to/from it's hubs to PIT to help with connecting traffic arriving in the States.  This was all about $$$$

 

I agree. DL's secondary issue had to do with CDG feed but it was an argument they used, beyond the subsidy, to operate the flight.

 

Now that the flight has to stand on its own they chopped it back pretty far. Tells you that there wasn't that much feed at all, especially in the winter.

 

I still think it stands a chance of not operating.

Actually, the subsidy wasn't specifically targeted to DAL.  DAL was the one who took the bait.  DAL had alot of plans for transatlantic.  RDU and BDL were both supposed to see subsidized CDG and or LHR.  We had alot of capacity after the NWA merger (and still do) and were looking to put planes on routs just to utilize them.  the subsidies made that work.  Now that the PIT/Allegheny County money is gone and due to the fact that we are trimming transatlantic lift, this rout is a logical cut.

July 18, 2011

24 Small Towns May Lose Air Service

By JOE SHARKEY

 

Rural America, already struggling to recover from the recession and the flight of its young people, is about to take another blow: the loss of its airline service.

 

That was underscored last week when Delta Air Lines announced that it “can no longer afford” to continue service at 24 small airports. The carrier says it is losing a total of $14 million a year on flights from places like Thief River Falls, a city of 8,600 in northwest Minnesota that fills only 12 percent of the seats, or Pierre, the capital of South Dakota, where Delta’s two daily flights are on average less than half full.

 

Nationally, all major airlines have been reducing and sometimes eliminating flights altogether in small cities, as the industry concentrates much of its service in 29 major hubs, which now account for 70 percent of all passenger traffic, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

 

Delta’s announcement was especially acute because the airline operates in most of the small airports that receive a total of almost $200 million in federal subsidies to maintain air service under the Essential Air Service program. The subsidies are scheduled to expire in 2013 unless revived by Congress. Delta acquired many of those small-city markets in the Midwest when it merged with Northwest Airlines.

 

Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/business/economy/24-small-towns-may-lose-airline-service.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha25

These were the old North Central (the "Northliners") cities flown with the venerable Convair 580's...., then Republic, then Northwest.  Looks like DAl is finally cutting the heart out of the old NWA....

I've heard some Congressional staffers estimate the FAA is actually losing $200 million a day in lost ticket taxes, not $30 million. Either way, it's an example of the damage the right-wing reactionaries are doing to this country in the guise of their uncompromising mission....

 

 

A cautionary tale: FAA funding fight

By: Joseph Williams

July 25, 2011 11:18 PM EDT

 

To anyone watching the debt ceiling and deficit reduction debate, the scenario that has played out at the Federal Aviation Administration the past few weeks mostly below Washington’s own radar might seem eerily familiar:

 

The normally routine appropriations process for the agency that oversees the nation’s passenger travel bogs down in a divided Congress because of partisan bickering. Legislative gridlock ensues and urgent warnings are issued about the dangers of failing to act. But in this case, the doomsday clock for passing a bill approving the FAA’s funding hits zero, there is no eleventh-hour solution, and suddenly there are real consequences.

 

The stalemate that began over a plan by House Republican to slash subsidies to rural airports — and Senate Democrats’ anger over a bill that guts a pro-union mediation ruling — is now costing the government roughly $30 million a day in uncollected taxes. And it led the FAA to furlough thousands of employees in 35 states as well as shut down dozens of much-needed airport projects, like upgraded control towers and expanded runways, just weeks before summer construction season ends.

 

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/59875.html

FAA safety inspectors paying dearly for congressional inaction

By Emily Long [email protected] August 2, 2011

 

Some Federal Aviation Administration employees will foot the bill for work-related expenses -- including airfare and hotel rooms -- for weeks without pay if lawmakers fail to pass legislation extending the agency's funding.

 

A House-passed bill from July that would extend funding for the agency through Sept. 16 failed to gain Senate approval on Tuesday, because it includes cuts to rural airport subsidies. The House left for August recess Monday night and the Senate was scheduled to do the same Tuesday without any further action on the issue.

 

Nearly 4,000 FAA employees have been on furlough since July 22 after Congress failed to pass a stopgap bill to prevent a partial shutdown. In addition, 40 airport safety inspectors still are on the job but are paying travel and work-related expenses out of their own pockets. These inspectors would have been furloughed, but were deemed excepted because of their safety responsibilities. According to FAA, these employees are using their own credit cards to cover costs related to flying or driving to inspection sites around the country and they are not receiving their paychecks. They will be reimbursed when Congress passes an extension.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=48422&dcn=todaysnews

Excellent segment  on Cleveland Public Radio's "Sound of Ideas" this morning.

 

There's an old adage in the news business: If a plane lands safely, it's not news. That's news to aviation expert Andrew Thomas, a University of Akron professor, who takes a comprehensive look at the airline industry in his latest book, Soft Landing. Thomas explores everything from annoying baggage fees to government subsidies for airlines to the need for better oversight of maintenance to assure those safe landings.

 

Listen or download the MP3:

http://www.ideastream.org/soi/entry/43493

 

Andrew Thomas noted that only occasionally have airlines made money.  He cited Southwest and Virgin.  The industry has needed trillions of dollars in subsidies.  In his opinion, that public subsidy was key to America's success over the last seventy years.

 

Politicians of all stripes concede that transportation improvements do pay themselves back as future tax collections. 

That's news to aviation expert Andrew Thomas, a University of Akron professor, who takes a comprehensive look at the airline industry in his latest book, Soft Landing.

 

 

Funny name for a book as my cousin's book was published with a very similar title.....

 

http://www.amazon.com/Hard-Landing-Jr-Thomas-Petzinger/dp/0812921860

Toledo Express getting $1M in help for Denver route

Business First

Date: Thursday, September 29, 2011, 7:50am EDT

 

Struggling Toledo Express Airport will get federal financial help to close a deal to set an airline route to Denver, the Toledo Blade reports.

 

A $750,000 grant from the government to the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority would be used to establish a flight from Frontier Airlines to and from the Colorado city.

 

The carrier hasn’t approved a flight, but getting the grant triggered a $250,000 contribution from a regional fund that would be used to guarantee an airline offering the service $1 million during the first two years of operation, the paper said.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/morning_call/2011/09/toledo-express-getting-1m-in-help-for.html