Audio Losing connections: small towns and commercial aviation (story audio) Photos Airport terminal in Grand Rapids Mesaba Airline's Northwest Airlink flight arrives Mark Hoyne View full slideshow (5 images) More from MPR With strike averted, life goes on at Mesaba (01/12/2004) How much would a pilot's strike hurt Minnesota towns? (01/08/2004) Resources Heartland Gateways Flight Bank; Brainerd and St. Cloud The U.S. DOT's Essential Air Service Program Northwest Airlines Your Voice Join the conversation with other MPR listeners in the News Forum.

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Losing connections: small towns and commercial aviation
by Bob Kelleher, Minnesota Public Radio
January 28, 2004

The midday Northwest Airlink Flight arrives in Grand Rapids. The city draws two flights a day. But airport officials say about half the region's potential passengers drive instead to airports in Hibbing, Duluth, or the Twin Cities. (MPR Photo/Bob Kelleher)

Grand Rapids is about to lose commercial air service. Northwest Airlines blames continuing losses. Other rural communities are considering creative ways to retain air service or to increase their commercial connections.

Grand Rapids, Minn. — The heart of Grand Rapid's airport is a compact, modern airplane terminal. Inside is a hair salon, a cafe, and a single airline ticket counter.

Mesaba Airline's Northwest Airlink flights arrive twice a day, but few passengers get on. Northwest blames a lack of community support. But Airport Manager Mark Hoyne says the airline has set Grand Rapids up for failure.

Hoyne says people drive to airports in Hibbing, Duluth, or the Twin Cities, because Grand Rapids flights are too expensive, and are poorly-timed. Fly to Phoenix from Hibbing, you arrive by noon. Fly from Grand Rapids and you land that evening.

	Airport terminal in Grand Rapids

"It really puts us at a disadvantage. The schedule is driving our passengers to other markets. And the ticket prices are also driving passengers to other markets," Hoyne says. "And then Northwest tells us it's a community issue, and it's really not."

But some communities support air service better than others, according to Northwest Airline's Bob Benner. Benner faced an unhappy crowd at last week's Grand Rapids Airport Commission.

"Part of the problem that a community like Grand Rapids, or Watertown, South Dakota, or Fort Dodge, Iowa, have, is that we have a limited number of airplanes and a limited number of time slots that we can use to serve the entire system," says Benner.

Small communities have always been at a disadvantage for commercial air connections. But even more so since airline ridership plunged in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Benner says Northwest has laid off 10,000 people and suffered losses in the multiple millions.

	Bob Benner

"Unfortunately, decisions like this are one of the things that, in our view, is required for us to maintain a level of profitability to survive in a very hostile environment," says Benner.

There's little Grand Rapids can do.

A lucky set of communities qualify for subsidized service under the Federal Essential Air Service Program. Hibbing and Thief River Falls do. Grand Rapids doesn't.

The program is available only to communities with commercial air service in 1978 -- the year Congress deregulated the airline industry. Much has changed since then. But the program remains rigid, according to Karan Bhatia, with the Federal Department of Transportation.

"It does preclude our flexibility to award subsidies to other communities, or to sort of reallocate, or realign what limited resources we have," Bhatia says.

Short of a subsidy, some communities are getting creative. Mesaba's Northwest Airlink service flies into St. Cloud. But locals would like direct connections to hubs beyond the Twin Cities. Airport Manager Bill Towle says airlines rarely look for new business in small communities.

The schedules (are) driving our passengers to other markets. And the ticket prices are also driving passengers to other markets. And then Northwest tells us it's a community issue, and it's really not. - Grand Rapids Airport Manager Mark Hoyne

"We're stuck with a chicken or an egg thing," Towle says. "Somebody has got to act first and typically it's not the airline."

St. Cloud and Brainerd have created the Heartland Gateways Flight Bank. They're asking businesses to promise to fly a new airline. They've raised more than $3 million in pledges.

"We can go to an airline and say, 'OK, we have $3.2 million worth of potential sales for you, over a 12-month period,'" says Towle.

They're hoping for a one-year commitment from an airline like American Eagle. After that, they think the new carrier would choose to stay.

In Hibbing some people are thinking of starting a new airline. Mayor Rick Wolff says a startup could serve Hibbing and other towns.

"I think that we really, as rural communities, have to band together, and have to look for solutions and alternatives, if we're going to maintain some kind of stable air service into the future," says Wolff. "And this seems to be, at this point at least, the most desirable."

Something has to be done, according to Mark Hoyne in Grand Rapids. Studies show a strong link between air service and economic growth.

"It's Grand Rapids today," says Hoyne. "You know, what happens to other out-state markets, whether it's airlines or other business? You know, there is life beyond the Twin Cities metro area," Hoyne says.

Unless Northwest reconsiders, the last flight will leave Grand Rapids March 1.

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