Originally Posted by
XtremeF150
I don't agree with that chart. The distance shown is distance to the nearest MAJOR HUB airport. It should show distance to the nearest airport with scheduled airline service.
Think about it. If you live in an EAS city, you fly from the city to the HUB, and then connect. If you live in Visalia, California, you drive 40 miles to Fresno, CA, hop on a flight, and then connect. No one would drive 178 miles to Burbank, CA just to do the same thing.
I don't know the east coast communities that well, but I know of these communities in the west:
Pueblo, CO - 40 miles to Colorado Springs (plenty of service)
Visalia, CA - 40 miles to Fresno (plenty of service)
Merced, CA - 40 miles to Modesto (some service)
All are shown as a distance of 150+ miles in the chart.
In my opinion, we need to look at EAS and look at a few things. If all of the following are true, the town does not deserve EAS.
1. How far is it to the nearest airport with scheduled airline service? You don't need to drive Pueblo to Denver to catch a flight. You don't need to drive Visalia to Burbank to catch a flight. If the nearest usable airport with scheduled airline service is within 60 minutes, it may not deserve EAS.
2. Is there a major interstate highway connecting the town with that airport? If the answer is yes, and it is still within 60 minutes, it may not deserve EAs.
3. Load factor. Does the volume of people who use EAS justify service? Pueblo, CO has 3 daily flights on B-1900's with a 28% load factor, or approximately 15 people per day. I think there needs to be at least 50% load factor or at least 30+ people per day using the route.
If the nearest airport with scheduled airline service is within 60 minutes, there is a major interstate highway connecting the two airports, and the load factor is both under 50% and the load is less than 30 people per day, YOU DO NOT DESERVE EAS. Cut funding to those towns. Do not cut funding to towns that need and depend on EAS.
See this article (i think it is the 3rd one down) for a good break down.
http://www.aviationplanning.com/asrc1.htm