Visalia certainly could do that. However, that's not what they've indicated will happen. By opting out of EAS, the Feds will be giving the city a lot of money to develop the airport in other ways instead of airline service. VIS serves a lot of corporate aircraft as well as FedEx and UPS. The FBO and freight terminals both need an upgrade. Fresno is only a 40 mile drive and is served by United, Alaska, and American so airline service is still close.

As an aside, Boutique has sent DOT a 90 day notice of service termination for Show Low claiming the bid was too low and the company is losing money on that route. The company hopes to rebid for a higher subsidy amount, but the process will be open for other EAS carriers to bid as well. The Termination notice is on DOT's website.

Growing pains and perhaps not enough aircraft? Who knows.