Possible budget cutbacks threaten regional airports

Like a rite of spring, possible budgetary cuts for Essential Air Service again threaten federal subsidies that maintain commercial air service for the nation's small regional airports. including the Northwest Alabama Regional Airport in Muscle Shoals.

"This is almost an annual effort when the budget comes out," said John Lehrter, director of the airport.

After the 2007 budget year, the funding comes up for reauthorization. For next year's budget, President Bush proposed to cut the program's funding in half to $50 million. The Essential Air Service received $107 million in 2006 to provide subsidies to 115 small regional airports across the nation.

"If they cut the funding, it'll pretty much end the air service," he said. Lehrter emphasized that cuts to EAS funding would not shut down the airport, but would cut funding for Northwest's commercial Airlink service. The airport would have to lay off around 12 to 14 people and would only operate services for business aircraft in the Shoals.

The Northwest Alabama Regional Airport received $1,364,697 through the EAS program in 2005, according a 2006 report from the Office of Aviation Analysis.

The money pays for operations of a Saab 340 airliner that seats 34 passengers provided by Northwest Airline's Airlink service.

The airport's funding increased over 6 percent from the previous year's funding.

Essential Air Service in Alabama has undergone cuts before. The Tuscaloosa Regional Airport, about 35 miles from Birmingham, removed its EAS service from American Eagle in 1996-97, said Wayne Cameron, the airport's manager.

Currently, the Northwest Alabama Regional Airport is the only one in Alabama that receives the EAS federal subsidies, according to the Office of Aviation Analysis.

The U.S. Senate is trying to save the Essential Air Service.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., introduced a bill, the Essential Air Service Preservation Act of 2007, on Jan. 30. The bill has 14 co-sponsors and was referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

So far, the House has not put forth a companion bill.

"The Essential Air Service program has provided smaller regions like the Shoals an opportunity to have reliable and efficient air service," U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Huntsville, said in a prepared statement.

During the Northwest Alabama Council of Local Government's annual trip to Washington D.C. last week, the issue of Essential Air Service came up during meetings with Cramer and Northwest Airlines. The meetings included Florence Mayor Bobby Irons, Muscle Shoals Mayor David Bradford, Shoals Economic Development Authority board member Liz Anderson, Shoals Chamber of Commerce Secretary Steve Holt and Humphrey Lee, chairman-elect for the Shoals Chamber of Commerce.

Shoals representatives also met with Sally Veith, managing director of governmental affairs for Northwest Airlines.

One issue on the table was the Tupelo Regional Airport, which does not receive Essential Air Service funding. Both morning and evening flights from the Shoals stop at Tupelo on their way to Memphis. Only the midday flight is direct.

"We sometimes think that Tupelo gets a little bit of an advantage because they board more people than we do," Holt said.

"We think that nonstop service would boost our early morning boardings, not so much for the time frame, but because Tupelo boards more people than we do," Holt said, "Sometimes they get the cheaper-priced seats and we lose out on it."

Irons agreed that the Shoals needed to work with both Northwest Airlines and the federal government to maintain air service. "Give us the fares and give us the flights and we'll give you boardings," Irons said.

Several officials in the Shoals said they hope the airport stays competitive with its prices.

"The airline is getting subsidizing from the federal government, so they shouldn't be asking us to pay a lot more for seating versus competitive areas such as Birmingham or Huntsville," Bradford said. "We share a flight with Tupelo and we believe that they're getting most of the discounted seating."

Dean Breest, spokesman for Northwest Airlines, said he could not comment about any financial negotiations because federal "signaling" laws prohibit airlines from publicly disclosing future pricing.

The annual number of passengers from 2005 to 2006 increased overall 11 percent from 5,594 passengers in 2005 to 6,211 passengers in 2006.

Since the airport added a third flight June 8, the total monthly flights have decreased nearly 3 percent from a comparable period a year ago, according to data from the Northwest Alabama Regional Airport.

From July 2006 to February, 3,714 passengers flew from the airport. During the same period la year ago, 3,815 passengers flew from the airport.

"Sometimes I feel like a lone voice in the wilderness here; our people need to fly from the Shoals," Holt said. "At least look at flying out of the Shoals before you go off to Huntsville or Birmingham or Nashville."

Staff Writer Trevor Stokes can be reached at 740-5728 or trevor.stokes@timesdaily.com.