Essential air service : changes in subsidy levels, air carrier costs, and passenger traffic

Details

• Corporate Creators:
  United States. Government Accountability Office
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Air Carriers Airlines Airports Costs Economics Essential Air Service (EAS) Passenger Traffic Regulations Subsidies
• Publication/ Report Number:
  GAO/RCED-00-34
• Resource Type:
  Research Paper
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. General Accounting Office
• Abstract:
  Overall, DOT applied relevant statutory authority when determining which communities would receive air service subsidized by the EAS program. Under this authority, communities may receive subsidized air service if they were initially eligible for Essential Air Service (EAS) benefits as a result of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 and if they meet additional conditions that the Congress first prescribed in 1994. These conditions generally preclude a community from receiving subsidized service if it is located within 70 miles of a larger airport or if the average subsidy per passenger for the community exceeds $200. Because of these and other conditions, some
  
  communities that received subsidized service in 1995 no longer received it in 1999. For example, Worthington, Minnesota, which received subsidized service in 1995, no longer received it in 1999 because its average subsidy per passenger exceeded the statutory limit. In addition to applying these statutory provisions, DOT established a policy that removed subsidized service from communities permanently for operational and budgetary reasons. DOT used this policy to determine that Worthington and four other eligible communities could never receive subsidized service again. During our review, DOT recognized that this policy was not supported by statute and agreed to withdraw it. In the future, should funding become inadequate, DOT may have to implement austerity measures or seek
  
  guidance from the Congress on how to target program subsidies.
  
  
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:3fde4f880d262414c0f6c02ddbcc5a501d3bcded13021e436d07bb1ebec54594
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/14591/dot_14591_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 832.00 KB ]