In the Media

RASA Press Releases

• House of Representatives Votes to Fully Fund EAS Program
• House Approps Committee Passes FY 2013 Transportation Spending Bill with EAS Funding
• Rural Air Service Alliance Response to National Journal “Buses Versus Airplanes”

Other News Articles

• Little-Known Air Service Gets Millions in Tax Dollars. NBC Chicago, 4/2/13. On any given day at O’Hare International Airport’s bustling Terminal 3 — amid the jumbo jets and superliners taxiing in and out of the gates — there’s a tiny nine-seat Cessna Caravan waiting to board passengers headed to Decatur, Ill. It’s paid for with federal money: More than $2.6 million a year in tax dollars this year alone.
• Essential Air Service: Essential or wasteful? Missourian.com, 1/17/13. Today a story ran about Cape Air, which is funded in part by federal Essential Air Service subsidies. Rural communities such as Cape Girardeau that lie a great distance from a major airport once could be made eligible to receive the funds, but no more can qualify, due to recent changes to the law.
• Flying the subsidized skies. The Troy Messenger, 1/16/13. I was born and raised in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I still refer to the UP as “home” and love returning to God’s country whenever my schedule and money permit. The UP is one of the most beautiful parts of our country (even when the forecast high temperatures are about 10 degrees Fahrenheit!)….
• Airport may lose Essential Air Service, but optimistic about the future. The Ely Times, 12/28/13. The upcoming year is a big one for the Ely Airport. 2013 marks the 100th anniversary of the first flight in White Pine County, with celebrations planned in July to commemorate the event.
• Joplin airport sees big increase in passenger traffic – KOAM TV, 11/19/12. Joplin’s Regional Airport seeks to renew its contract with American Eagle.  The contract first needs the go ahead from the U.S. Department of Transportation since Joplin is classified as an Essential Air Service Airport.
• Airfields of Dreams – City journal, 11/18/12. Willis and Vivian Bramstaedt planned to live out their days on a farm in rural Beecher, Illinois. But two years ago, they got a disturbing letter from the Illinois Department of Transportation: the state, using its eminent-domain powers, would seize their land to provide space for a brand-new airport—intended to relieve congestion at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, some 60 miles north.
• Small airports gamble with revenue guarantees - Tulsa World, 11/14/12. Road-weary travelers forced to drive two hours to St. Louis or Kansas City to catch big-city flights were ecstatic when Delta Airlines announced plans to expand service at a regional airport in central Missouri.
• Target 11 investigates essential air service – Wpxi.com, 11/6/12. Every year, millions of tax dollars are spent flying empty planes into small rural airports. It’s a program that begin in the late 1970s during the deregulation of the airline industry. The essential air service program provides federal subsidies to guarantee commercial air service to rural areas.
• Cape Air sets single month record – Quincy Journal, 11/6/12. Quincy Regional Airport had its busiest month since Cape Air became the facility’s Essential Air Service provider three years ago.
• Rival carriers fall out over essential air service routes to Alaska – Routes News, 10/5/12. Last month, SeaPort Airlines petitioned the US Department of Transportation (DoT) to reconsider its decision to award the contract to Air Excursions, saying the decision was based on facts that were “incorrect, incomplete or mischaracterized”.
• SkyWest will take over as main air carrier - BrainerdDispatch.com, 10/4/12. SkyWest Airlines will officially take over as Brainerd’s main air carrier Dec. 15 — but the change may go unnoticed by most air travelers. Rick Adair, interim airport manager for Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport, told the airport commission Thursday the replacement for Delta Airlines will provide Essential Air Service effective Dec. 15.
• Small Airports Struggle as Major Carriers Pull Back – Houston Chronicle, 9/22/12. When Jefferson County found out the only commercial airline serving the Beaumont-Port Arthur region would discontinue its three daily flights to Bush Intercontinental Airport at the end of June, officials scrambled to find out whether another service would take its place.
• Nolan Criticizes Cravaack’s Stance on Aviation – Northland’s NewsCenter, 9/23/12. Duluth, MN (Northland’s NewsCenter) — Eighth District Congressional Candidate Rick Nolan visited Duluth’s International Air Show on Sunday and called out Congressman Chip Cravaack for his positions on aviation issues.
• Airport Still Awaiting Word on Air service – News and Sentinel, 9/25/12. An official with the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Airport is still waiting to hear about the facility’s commercial air service. ”It is supposed to start in a week but since I haven’t heard anything, it makes me a bit antsy,” said manager Terry Moore. Current airline Silver Airways was the only bid received by the United States Department of Transportation by the June 30 deadline for service expected to begin on Oct. 1.
• Redding Pitches Denver Flights to United – Redding Record Searchlight, 9/11/12. Redding expects to hear from United Airlines within a month about nonstop flights to Denver. Airports Manager Rod Dinger traveled to Chicago on Friday to speak with airline officials about the potential for service to the Mile High City with Mark Lascelles, president of the Economic Development Corp. of Shasta County.
• Wide Cooperation Essential in Tupelo Regional’s Future – Djournal.com, 9/10/12. The new, improved and more transparent relationship between the Tupelo City Council and the Tupelo Airport Authority began Thursday with painful but not surprising information that Tupelo Regional is in difficult financial times and seeks $275,345 from the city to cover a shortfall in operating expenses. No decisions have been made on that request or other funding for capital improvements that would be needed in the 2013 budget cycle, which starts Oct. 1.
• 75th Anniversary Coming Up for Grand Island Airport – The Grand Island Independent, 9/3/12. Grand Island’s Central Nebraska Regional Airport will celebrate its 75th anniversary Saturday. It has trained bombers that ended wars, had a notorious hijacking reputation and is on a record-setting pace for modern passenger traffic.
• Government Programs Never Die - Washington Times, 8/28/12. Ronald Reagan once observed that nothing lasts longer than a temporary government program. How right he was. Shortly before Reagan came to Washington, Democrats and Republicans agreed to do something that would be unthinkable for today’s Democratic Party. They passed legislation to end, once and for all, the inefficiencies and costs of federal regulation of airlines and took the government out of the business of micromanaging and subsidizing the industry. It was a spectacular success.
• SeaPort Airlines Favored to Provide Service at Athens-Ben Epps Airport – Athens Banner Herald, 8/24/12. A Portland, Ore.-based airline has emerged as the favorite to continue service out of Athens-Ben Epps Airport when the current Essential Air Service contract with GeorgiaSkies expires next month. During an informal Friday meeting, a subcommittee of the Athens-Ben Epps Airport Authority appointed by the full authority to recommend an airline to provide local air services decided to back SeaPort Airlines’ application to the U.S. Department of Transportation to provide federally subsidized EAS service.
• House Votes To Boost Subsidies For Flights To Rural Areas – Bloomberg, 6/29/12. The House passed a transportation and housing spending bill that would boost funding by 11 percent for a government program that subsidizes air travel to rural areas, an initiative long criticized by budget watchdogs as rife with waste.
• House rejects bid to slash rural airline subsidies – Fox News, 6/27/12. The House has turned back an attempt by a tea party-backed GOP conservative to slash taxpayer subsidies for air service to isolated smaller cities and towns that can cost hundreds of dollars a ticket.
• House Panel Boosts Rural Air Service Subsidies – Fox News, 6/19/12.  Tea party lawmakers from rural areas were among those fighting the hardest to preserve taxpayer subsidies for airline flights into and out of small towns last year after senior Republicans tried to eliminate the oft-criticized program.
• Senate Makes Transpo Bill Offer – Politico, 6/6/12. The T&I chairman is out with a radio/ad campaign in his heated GOP primary with Sandy Adams highlighting his effort to cut Essential Air Service subsidies, how he “fought” TSA and GSA and that he is pushing for approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.
• DL Officials Head to Washington Over Undependable Air Service – WDAY, 6/4/12. Devils Lake officials will fly to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday to address why local flight service isn’t as dependable as it should be.
• New House FAA Extension Introduced with EAS Reforms – House T&I, July 15, 2011.  House T&I Leadership introduce 21st FAA Extension with EAS reforms that ends subsidies to 13 rural communities.
• Senate Approves 20th FAA Extension - Aviation News, June 28, 2011.  The Senate on Monday evening approved the 20th short-term FAA extension, a stop-gap measure that will give lawmakers until July 22 to complete action on a multi-year FAA reauthorization bill.
• House Passes Short-Term FAA Bill – Aviation News, June 24, 2011.  The House has approved another short-term FAA bill — the 20th since the last FAA reauthorization bill expired more than three years ago.
• House Passes Four-Year FAA Funding Bill – Aviation Week, April 3, 2011. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the FAA reauthorization bill (H.R.658) by a vote of 223 to 196 before 1 p.m. on Friday, April 1, after starting floor debate at noon the day before.
• US House Passes $59.7 Billion Aviation Bill – The Wall Street Journal, April 1, 2011. WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–The U.S. House approved a four-year, $59.7 billion aviation bill Friday that would cut spending on aviation programs and potentially curb airline and railway employees’ ability to unionize.
• Aviation bill clears House despite veto threat – Reuters, April 1, 2011. The House of Representatives approved sweeping aviation legislation on Friday despite a White House threat to veto the measure over a labor provision favorable to airline management.
• Essential Air Service cuts could ground rural communities – USA Today, March 30, 2011. For most of us who live near airports with regular flight schedules, the ability to book a flight is a given. But in many rural and small communities across the country, the Essential Air Service program is the only protection against turning back to the clock to a time before commercial aviation.
• House bill threatens rural airports – The Boston Globe, February 19, 2011. Six rural New England airports could be at risk of losing commercial air service if a bill passes that would phase out federal funding for airlines operating in underserved communities.
• Senate Approves $35 Billion Aviation Bill – Wall Street Journal, February 18, 2011. The Senate on Thursday approved a two-year, $35 billion aviation bill that avoids contentious labor-management issues while encouraging greater airline competition on routes between the West Coast and the nation’s capital.
• Senate Passes Broad Aviation Bill – New York Times, February 17, 2011. The Senate voted 87 to 8 on Thursday to approve a bill that would advance modernization of the nation’s air traffic control system.
• GOP bill would cancel rural air service subsidies – AP, February 16, 2011. Subsidies for air service to small airports, often in remote communities, would be nearly eliminated and spending on aviation programs scaled back under a bill approved Wednesday by a House committee.
• Senate rejects bid to cut spending in air bill – Reuters, February 15, 2011. The Democratic-led Senate voted 51 to 47 along party lines to set aside an amendment offered by Rand Paul of Kentucky that sought to roll back the Federal Aviation Administration budget to 2008 levels, or by about $3 billion over the 2012 proposal.
• Rural air subsidies test resolve to cut spending – The Washington Post, February 3, 2011. A senator who is a key figure in aviation issues vowed Thursday to fight off an attempt to eliminate a program that subsidizes air service to small airports, often in remote communities.