Small Towns Like Muskegon Might Lose Air Service

A story on Yahoo from the New York Times talks about smaller cities airports losing money and air service. The story talks about places like Thief River Falls, Minnesota, Pierre, South Dakota...and Muskegon. As in Muskegon, Michigan.

The story tells about how Delta is cutting service to some of these small towns because their planes are running at 10 to 20 percent full. And they are losing lots of money. When mentioning Muskegon, the story talks about how "For example, Muskegon, has a few daily flights operated by United Airlines, subsidized with $600,000 a year from the Essential Air Service program.

Meanwhile, the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, 40 miles away, had two million passengers last year, and is served by eight airlines. The savings from the short drive can be substantial. On Monday, for example, the lowest round-trip fare on a United flight to Kennedy Airport in New York from Muskegon, connecting through Chicago, was listed at $1,149. Drive to Grand Rapids, though, and you could find a flight to Kennedy for as little as $600 on various airlines.

'Muskegon has great air service...It’s called Grand Rapids.' " said Michael Boyd, the president of the air-service consulting firm Boyd Group International.

Here's the whole story from Yahoo..."24 Small Towns May Lose Air Service"