A federal subsidy supporting passenger airline service at Athens-Ben Epps Airport could end this year, potentially leaving the airport without the regular daily service to Nashville provided by Oregon-based SeaPort Airlines since fall 2012.
Loss of the service won’t affect the airport’s status as a commercial airport, serving regular charter flights and general aviation operations, Airport Manager Tim Beggerly said.
The airport was recently notified by the U.S. Department of Transportation that the Essential Air Service program, which provides a $1.5 million annual subsidy to SeaPort Airlines’ operations in Athens, will be reduced or cut entirely as soon as this fall.
The EAS program is funded with fees paid by foreign air carriers for use of U.S. air traffic control services and a trust fund that captures tax revenue from airline ticket and jet fuel sales. The program was put in place following airline deregulation in 1978 to ensure that small communities served by air carriers could maintain a minimal level of service.
Beggerly said the elimination of the EAS subsidy at Athens-Ben Epps would be based on SeaPort’s inability to meet the 10 passenger per day requirement of the program.
According to information from the Athens-Clarke County government, DOT data show SeaPort’s average daily count at 5.9 passengers for the 2013 fiscal year.
In signing the EAS contract in 2012, SeaPort officials indicated that they would engage in a wide-ranging marketing effort to ensure the average daily passenger count would meet the subsidy’s requirement, but Beggerly said airport officials had seen little evidence of any aggressive marketing of the Athens-Ben Epps Airport service, and had addressed those concerns with the airline.
It is possible for the airport to seek a waiver of the planned termination of the EAS subsidy, but doing so will require airport officials to prove that the low passenger count is a temporary decline, Beggerly explained. The average passenger count at Athens-Ben Epps has not exceeded 10 passengers per day since 2009, under SeaPort and a previous carrier, according to information from the county government.
In a Wednesday interview, SeaPort Airlines Executive Vice President Tim Sieber admitted that the company’s Athens operation “cannot sustain itself without a subsidy,” but added that the airline has seen a slight increase in its passenger count since lowering fares in February and is now averaging seven passengers per day. SeaPort operates two flights out of Athens in nine-seat aircraft, Sieber said.
Sieber also suggested that the low passenger counts might be a result of the DOT choosing the two daily flights to Nashville as the option for awarding the EAS subsidy. In applying for the subsidy, the airline had proposed another option as well, offering two flights to Charlotte and one flight to Nashville, which could have provided local passengers with more options for connecting flights to destinations across the country.
Another issue with regard to the EAS contract is the DOT’s announcement that, beginning in the 2015 fiscal year, it will strictly enforce a $200 per seat limit on EAS subsidies. SeaPort has been exceeding that limit, according to Beggerly, and Sieber acknowledged Wednesday that SeaPort’s recent strategy of lowering fares is problematic in connection with the $200 EAS limit.
Sieber could not say Wednesday whether SeaPort officials had been in touch with Athens-Ben Epps Airport officials regarding any plans the airline might have to challenge the DOT move to cut the local EAS subsidy.
As far as the airport is concerned, a subcommittee of the Athens-Ben Epps Airport Authority formed as a result of the DOT announcement on the subsidy could try to attract an airline interested in providing non-subsidized passenger service from the airport, Beggerly said.
The DOT announcement on the subsidy likely will be a subject of an airport authority meeting scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday, Beggerly said.
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