McKellar-Sipes Officials Await Decision on Subsidies
This video is no longer available.
Local airport authority leaders are closely watching the debate over cutting the budget which could include cuts for local air service to small rural and remote areas. Republican lawmakers in Washington are behind the measure that would trim the funding for airports such as McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport. The bill would eliminate most of the $200 million Essential Air Service program, which pays airlines to service 155 communities. The program was created to ensure that less-profitable routes to small airports would not be eliminated when airline service was deregulated in 1978. Local leaders said those cuts would severely impact airports such as McKellar-Sipes. “In talking to the folks at the Department of Transportation, for them it’s business as usual until Congress makes a decision, said Steve Smith, director, of McKellar-Sipes Airport Authority. “Right now, the FAA Reauthorization Act is still Floating around out there so we don’t know what they’re gonna do.” Lawmakers for rural districts said scheduled airline service is critical to the ability of rural communities to attract and retain businesses that generate jobs.
