President Donald Trump has proposed eliminating Essential Air Service subsidies to smaller cities who depend on the funding to attract airline service to their communities.
Sioux City previously received EAS funding for four years, but in 2015 American Airlines told federal officials they didn’t need the subsidy to operate their Sioux City to Chicago flights.
Sioux Gateway Airport director Mike Collette says EAS funding can be a critical safety net for small city airports:
OC…..fall back in that program. :24
Collette says Sioux City’s flights to Chicago and Dallas continue to have strong passenger numbers:
OC…………a big issue. ;09
The EAS program subsidizes airline flights to 171 communities in the continental U.S., including Pierre, Aberdeen and Watertown in South Dakota and Fort Dodge, Mason City, Burlington and Waterloo in Iowa.
Airports in Kearney, Scottsbluff and Grand Island, Nebraska also receive EAS funding.
They would likely otherwise have no air service.
