By MIKE SCHREIBEREra Associate Editor
Bradford Regional Airport will benefit from the continuation of
two vital programs which provide federal funding to help ensure
commercial air service to rural airports.
Late Friday, lawmakers in Washington passed an amendment to the
fiscal year 2006 Transportation Appropriations bill which extends
the Virtual Primary Airport program – which provides federal
funding to airports struggling to regain 10,000 passengers annually
in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001 – for another year.
Meanwhile, a separate piece of legislation sponsored by U.S.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., would provide an additional $17 million
in funding for the Essential Air Service program, which ensures
that airports – including Bradford – which had commercial air
service before deregulation continue to receive it.
News of the legislators’ efforts Monday was greeted with open
arms by Airport Manager Tom Frungillo.
“Rural communities were really hit hard after Sept. 11,”
Frungillo said. “It’s been proven that smaller airports such as
ours were the hardest hit and have had a more difficult time coming
back. This is just great news to us. Both of these programs act as
a safety net for rural airports.”
According to U.S. Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum of
Pennsylvania, who co-sponsored the Virtual Primary Airport bill,
the legislation extends the grace period by one fiscal year for
airports who receive $1 million in entitlement funding from the
Federal Aviation Administration, but are under 10,000 passengers
annually.
The lawmakers said the previous two-year grace period for the
program expired Sept. 30.
“Commercial air service in Pennsylvania’s rural communities is
vital because it greatly increases the potential for economic
development and job creation in those regions,” Specter, a senior
member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said.
According to Specter, 50 rural airports nationwide – including
five across Pennsylvania – were in danger of losing the federal
funding if the extension wasn’t approved.
Santorum, the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference,
called rural airports “important assets to the local economy,”
adding “these funds are essential to small airports as they
continue their efforts to provide safe and convenient service.”
Frungillo said Bradford Regional has been a Virtual Primary
Airport since Sept. 11, adding “We were grandfathered into the
program because our passenger levels were always above 10,000 prior
to the terrorist attacks.”
The airport is currently below that 10,000 passenger threshold,
but has taken steps with grant money through the federal Small
Community Air Service Development program to address the challenges
of local air service and to market the facility.
The airport manager said six rural airports across this region
of the state joined together in an effort to receive support from
Washington for the program.
“We have all been pushing it because we know how important it
(federal funding) is to rural airports,” Frungillo said.
U.S. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., who has numerous rural airports
under the auspices of both the Virtual Primary Airport and EAS
programs in his 5th District, said he “fully and enthusiastically
supports” the inclusion of the language in the FAA bill by Specter
and Santorum.
Peterson said he will send a letter to U.S. Rep. Joe
Knollenberg, R-Mich., the chairman of the Appropriations
Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury and Housing and Urban
Development, to express his views and what he would like to see
included in the final version of the FAA reauthorization bill,
including the extension of the Virtual Primary Airport program.
Meanwhile, Schumer’s amendment would provide more funding for
the EAS program under Section 402 of the Vision 100 Aviation
Reauthorization Act, which would enable commercial carriers to
rural airports to request additional federal funding due to
unforeseen circumstances, such as Sept. 11, natural or man-made
disasters and increases in fuel costs, among others.
Currently, US Airways Express carrier Colgan Air Inc., which
services Bradford Regional and nearby Jamestown, N.Y., is looking
to renegotiate its contract under the EAS program. Colgan has
already notified the U.S. Department of Transportation of its
move.
The notice by Colgan marks the third time in two years that a
carrier at the airport will look to negotiate a deal under EAS.
Officials with the airline site a hike in fuel prices and small
slip in passengers as leading to the decision.
“A lot of EAS carriers serving rural communities have incurred a
lot of cost due to jet fuel increases,” Frungillo said. “Colgan has
been forced to try and get more EAS funding to support that
hike.”
Peterson said several proposals have been offered regarding
final funding for the EAS program, adding he will lend his support
to the proposal that secures the greatest amount of funding for
it.
“EAS is not just a matter of convenience for rural America, but
an absolute necessity for which we will continue to fight,”
Peterson said.
