Embedded Files
by Ryan Vagabundo
The Essential Air Service is a federal program that began in 1978, as a response to the Airline Deregulation Act (which pretty much freed airlines to manage their routes and prices as they pleased). The intention of the service was to ensure that rural communities far removed from airports not only maintained some sort of air access to their area, but that ticket prices were affordable. The program is currently allotted about $10 million per year of public money, most of which is used to subsidize most of the cost of each ticket, keeping prices for passengers usually well under $100 per flight.
It's a controversial program, to say the least. It's inarguable there's a need for it, especially in places like Alaska where driving stops becoming an option for long stretches in the winter. The structure of it also lends itself to inarguable waste of resources, however. For example, some routes maintain daily flights, and even if there are no passengers at all the flight will still go ahead.
The program tends to be up for consideration for axing every fiscal year, but somehow keeps surviving, probably because the rural areas it serves tend to be overwhelmingly populated with the sorts of conservatives who normally lead the charge to cut programs like these. Surprisingly, the service was fully funded for 2018 by the Republican-controlled government, so it's still in place until 2019 at the least.
Whether you consider it "pork" or no, the fact is it's here and no one can individually change that, so you might as well use it if it's useful.
Here's the full list of cities and towns served by Essential Air Service flights. These aren't luxury flights by any stretch of the imagination; it's almost always some little off-brand regional airline that specializes exclusively in flights like these, and expect to potentially be on a 10-seater with no amenities (or even climate control in some cases). However, these flights are always fairly short - most routes stay within a state or just go one state over, with only a couple odd exceptions that travel over two states or more. And though it's a 10-seater, it might be more comfy than the usual flight since you'll only have 2 or 3 other people on board!
While these routes are mostly meant for locals to get in and out of their homes, I see at least a few interesting possibilities for the location-independent traveler:
Inexpensively (and conveniently) visiting an interesting, little-known place (and maybe taking advantage of lodging deals)
Getting out of an expensive population center temporarily
Getting to places that have no bus / train service without having to rent a car
As an alternative travel route that's quicker, cheaper, and more comfortable than Greyhound et. al
You can also get to some places that, while not exactly "major population centers", have a decent population and connections to the outside world. Some examples that jump out to me at a glance are:
Lancaster, PA - has an Amtrak station on the Keystone Corridor route between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia
Grand Island, NE - has what appears to be the longest flight in the continental US, with service to Dallas
Merced, CA - located on the Amtrak line that goes from Bakersfield to Oakland / Sacramento, has flight service to LA, and apparently had flight service to Las Vegas as well until 2016 when it was indefinitely suspended
Kingman, AZ and Prescott, AZ - air service to Phoenix, Kingman is on a major Amtrak line out of Los Angeles, also has cheap bus service to the vacation area Laughlin / Bullhead City, NV
El Centro, CA - Service to/from Los Angeles, El Centro is on the border of Mexico next to Mexicali
Pueblo, CO and Laramie, CO - Service to/from Denver
You can also simply visit some neat places for their own sake, like Moab in Utah (beautiful red rock canyons and the Colorado River), or Dodge City in Kansas (Old West history).
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse