Rural Air Subsidies
Most boring article title ever? Perhaps. However, the upcoming referendum on government subsidies to rural airports has potential to impact America’s development.
This story has been all over the news this morning, but I took this Associated Press article as my main source. In a nutshell, the U.S. government provides financial assistance to airports in small communities. These subsidies are paid to airlines to make the smaller airports profitable. Without the assistance, it is assumed that airlines would stop serving the smaller rural communities. The program costs about $200 million annually, and some senators now advocate cutting it as part of the general budget tightening push.
So what is the value of airline service to small communities? What does air travel offer that buses, railways, and commuter vehicles do not? It really boils down to business. The ability to be in New York City (or Chicago, or Detroit, etc) this afternoon is vital for many developing and established firms. Without that ability, many businesses will never get off the ground (sorry for the pun) and existing businesses may be forced to move to cities or close up. Removing these subsidies would accelerrate the decline of rural America.
As a pragmatist; I ask the question: do we need rural communities? What are the drawbacks of an exclusively urban-centered population? These are extremely interesting (and now even more relevant) questions which I will explore in future posts.
