Taxpayers foot the bill to fly near-empty airplanes (With Video)

By Scott MacFarlane, WHIO-TV 

Millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent to fly near-empty commercial airplanes into small town airports around the country.

It is all because of a controversial federal program called "Essential Air Service," a program we put to the test.

It cost me just $100 to get on a plane to Staunton, Virginia.  It cost taxpayers $133.  Why are taxpayers picking up so much of the tab for passengers who fly into small airports like Staunton, Great Bend, Kansas and Altoona, Pennsylvania?   A federal program that pays 200-million tax dollars a year to subsidize passengers tickets at 118 tiny airports nationwide.

It's done to make it cheaper for the passengers and to keep the airports in operation.

Dan Ronan, of the American Bus Association said, "Can we really afford as a nation to keep subsidizing people to fly on empty airplanes, when there are better ways to get them there?"

I took two flights.  The first one from Washington D.C. to Staunton, Virginia. Then I traveled from Staunton to Beckley, West Virginia. The first flight was so empty, the crew asked the passengers to evenly distribute the weight.   The second leg to Beckley cost taxpayers $500. There was only one other passenger onboard. There were only two passengers at the airport when I arrived and I was told that on some days planes depart completely empty.

When we tested the flight from Atlanta to Athens, Georgia, the time from check-in to arrival was not much faster than a car ride.

Seventeen cities get Essential Air Service, costing taxpayers between one and three million dollars a year. In cities like Johnstown and Altoona, Pennsylvania, the airports are heavily promoted to attract business.

"They have economics that can benefit from having that air service available," said Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania.

One passenger on the flight to Staunton, Virginia said his town is proud and pleased to have these lower cost flights. .

"It's a good commute for workers to go back and forth or for business people. It helps industry and CEO's," said Charles Grimm, a Virginia businessman.

In part, because each of the 118 small airports has a congressman, the program will continue this year despite stiff government budget cuts.

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