More small airports are being cut off from the air travel network. This is why

[Jilly_in_VA]

Walking into Pennsylvania's Williamsport Regional Airport is a strange experience.

It has everything you're used to seeing in a terminal building: check-in desks, a baggage carousel, car rental counters.

But there's one thing missing — passengers.

There haven't been any commercial airline flights out of Williamsport since American Airlines left in 2021.

To lose service entirely is rare. But the withdrawal of legacy airlines from regional airports is a growing phenomenon.

American, Delta and United combined have left 74 regional airports since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study by aviation consulting firm Ailevon Pacific.

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/04/1197337454/more-small-airports-are-being-cut-off-from-the-air-travel-network-this-is-why

This is really shit for us in Harrisonburg, VA. Our local, Shenandoah Valley Regional, is on precarious footing, but currently does have commuter service of a sort with American. Fingers crossed, as for about a year we didn't when Untied left us. (spelling intentional!)

[yankee87]

1. This stinks

I guess people in smaller metropolitan areas will have to get used to driving long distances for airline services. I thought we had regional carriers using airports like those.

[bottomofthehill]

2. People may not like the response but

Airports are expensive to maintain. When use drops and routs are not profitable, the airlines go away. Having an airport that gets a few flights a week is expensive.

[drmeow]

15. It could also be that

airlines structure their system and prices in such a way to give them an excuse to stop servicing those airports because they are not profitable enough. This feels a little bit like cell phone companies claiming there is no market for smaller phones in the US - the companies only offer smaller phones with substandard features so no one buys them which allows them to claim that there is no market for them. Why, because they can make MORE of a profit and phablets. The airlines are the same way. Everything has to go through their hubs and if, for example, they had two flights out of Islip and both went through Chicago (instead of, say, one going to Chicago and one going to DC - both hubs for the same airline), to get to Georgia someone would have to fly from Islip to Chicago to Savannah. Pretty soon no one wants to fly out of Islip unless they are going to California and the airline says "see, no one wants to fly out of Islip."

[MineralMan]

3. Very true.

My wife wanted to visit a friend of hers in central Illinois. The place she lives, Bloomington-Normal used to have feeder airlines making regular flights. No more. My wife had to fly to Chicago and take a 3 hour shuttle bus ride from O'Hare. Not good.

[bottomofthehill]

4. Yes, but the additional flight would have taken an hour from boarding to discharging passengers

Was expensive and awful for the environment. The shuttle was a fraction of the cost and at a fraction of the cost to the environment.

[MineralMan]

5. Actually, there used to be non-stop flights

from Minneapolis to Bloomington-Normal and vice versa. No longer.

[DFW]

6. I remember that name, too, and I was never there

So, chances are, I saw the destination on a DFW departure screen many years ago.

[MineralMan]

7. I used to fly out of the San Luis Obispo (SBP) airport.

Typically to LAX or SFO, and then connect there. Or, you could fly direct to places like Vegas and Phoenix. Those are the kinds of flights that are no longer available these days. I doubt they're ever coming back.

Driving from there to LAX or SFO was a 3-hour drive.

But, yes, there were regular flights between Bloomington/Normal and DFW. Several a day.

[bottomofthehill]

9. Yes, but millions of federal dollars were flowing into an airport that people were not using

This airlines stopped going there. It was convenient but expensive and not cost effective.

[VMA131Marine]

11. I believe there is still service from O'Hare to Champaign, IL (KCMI)

The University of Illinois being there probably means that is safe for the foreseeable future.

[dalton99a]

8. List of cities:

[bottomofthehill]

10. And if airlines were making money flying there

They would still be landing there. Some of these, the legacy pulled out and Southwest came in and made the airport profitable again. Manchester and Islip are examples.

[VMA131Marine]

13. The Federal government has been subsidising

many of these low volume routes because they aren’t profitable.

[bottomofthehill]

16. Waste of taxpayers dollars.

Altoona PA roughly 5,000 passengers per year 4 million dollars is federal assistance.

Johnstown PA a very generous average of 6000 passengers per year 5 million dollars in federal assistance

Give the money to the schools, the DPW, the fire departments but this is just good money after bad, year after year.

[VMA131Marine]

18. There are other issues to consider.

Businesses may not move to locations where there is no convenient access to scheduled air travel. Some may even leave an area that loses it and the knock-on effect on the local economy is bigger than the subsidy.

[VMA131Marine]

12. New Haven - Tweed has airline service on Avelo

https://www.aveloair.com/

[VMA131Marine]

14. State College, PA - University Park Airport

has scheduled service with United

[madville]

19. Some of those gained other carriers though

And retained other existing ones. Like United left Tallahassee but Jet Blue is starting service (and still have Delta and American).

[csziggy]

22. The Tallahassee airport has struggled for years to keep flying connector flights

Especially since there are few options to travel without a car from Tallahassee - no passenger train service and poor bus service. I believe the only reason the airport does not close is that the state legislators don't want to have to drive all the way to Tallahassee from where they live.

[Wonder Why]

17. One word - RAIL! More words:

Puddle jumper flights are wasteful. There are only so many takeoff/landing slots for an airport unless it consumes tons more land for more runways -Atlanta has FIVE parallel runways. Doesn't matter whether it is a jumbo jet or a puddle jumper - a slot is a slot and it takes the same amount of time.

The more flights at an airport, the more parking needed. Even bigger airports.

More locations need TSA and other support people.

The time wasted in takeoff and landing for, say, a 30 minute flight, means far more time waiting for connections.

Hugely wasteful for airlines having to hold long distance jets for a bunch of short-distance passengers on multiple flights or figuring how to reroute them when they are late or when the incoming long distance flights are late.

Rail could provide multiple trips between small cities and bigger cities then on to the big city airports.

When big airports have weather issues, people can stay home and take later train, get back home if flights are cancelled or get home even when it's the takeoffs that get restricted.

[madville]

20. Don't see much happening with regional rail

There are many initiatives and studies commissioned but rarely see any results, California and the corridor between Chicago and Minneapolis are examples, 20-30 years of study and planning and nothing to show for it.

[Wonder Why]

21. You are right. States don't want to pay for it. The feds only under Biden are investing

in it but during the next administration (and during previous ones, both Republican and Democratic) little was done. What stops it are NIMBY, Republicans, Freight RRs and an incompetent leadership in Amtrak.