Flights from Lebanon Airport could be canceled, become less frequent or become more costly if members of the United States Congress decide to eliminate or reduce the Federal Aviation Administration's Essential Air Service subsidy program as part of an air transportation reform bill, Lebanon Airport manager Rick Dyment said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
The Essential Air Service program provides federal subsidies for airports that do not generate enough air traffic to receive the funding they need to operate, Justin Harclerode, communications director for the U.S. House of Representative's Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
The program has enabled Lebanon Airport to provide its airline services, which business travelers, vacationers, College students, alumni and guest lecturers have used "for decades," Dyment said.
The FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011 which sets funding levels for a four-year period was approved by the House's Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Feb. 16 and will next appear before the full House at a later date, according to Harclerode.
In 2010, 7,974 passengers traveled on flights departing from Lebanon Airport, according to Dyment.
The total number of passengers travelling through the airport in a given year would be roughly twice that figure, Dyment said.
Lebanon Airport does not receive enough business to operate "in the black," Dyment said. The federal subsidy currently provides Cape Air Lebanon Airport's only air service provider with over $2 million per year to compensate for the deficit, he said.
"The money doesn't go through the airport," Dyment said. "It goes directly from [the U.S. Department of Transportation] to Cape Air."
Dyment said there are three options that Cape Air would pursue if the federal government eliminated the subsidy ceasing its airline services to the Upper Valley, reducing its airline services or raising ticket prices in addition to reducing the number of flights offered.
"If we lost the airline service as a result of losing the Essential Air Service, that would be disastrous for the airport," Dyment said. The airport leases land to Signal Aviation Services and Sharkey's Helicopters, Dyment said. Signal Aviation Services currently sells fuel to Cape Air, and the airport receives a portion of their revenue from gas sales, according to Dyment.
"It's cents per gallon," Dyment said, adding that the airport would see a "fair" decrease in revenue if Cape Air were to stop purchasing gas from Signal Aviation Services.
The proposed bill would phase out the subsidizing program in the 48 continental states over four years, Harclerode said, adding that the geography and transportation systems in Alaska and Hawaii prevent the government from discontinuing the program in these states.
"In proposing to fade out this program, the Committee doesn't necessarily ... feel that the program doesn't have a role or doesn't have a place in our aviation system," Harclerode said. "But we also have to recognize the country's current budget situation, and there are a lot of tough choices that have to be made in order to continue to appropriately fund our nation's infrastructure."
The House bill will direct the FAA to cut costs, but will preserve air travel safety regulations, Harclerode said.
"We've got a difficult budget situation staring us in the face, and there's no way around that," he said.
The U.S. Senate has also passed a bill that reauthorizes the FAA's budget but does not propose to eliminate funding for the program, Harclerode said.
"When the House passes the FAA bill and the Senate passes theirs, the two bodies will have to meet and come to some sort of compromise," he said.
Harclerode said he expects House members to offer amendments to the bill when it is presented on the House floor, where a member might propose to sustain funding levels for the program.
