The biggest problem for smaller airports is their proximity to large cities with large airports and generally, cheaper fares. If Boyd earned his money advising the various COU government and business interests who paid him (and pledged the revenue guarantees), then he provided some data on the passenger leakage to STL and MCI. My guess is that it is substantial. The pie could actually double as one article pointed out that many years ago, COU saw over 70,000 annual passenger boardings.

The experience of Manhattan, Kansas is also instructive. Eagle was lured with similar revenue guarantees and now, long after the subsidies have expired, still flies two flights to ORD and three to DFW. And Manhattan is a much smaller community with a much smaller metro area.

I think the repeated fear (that DL leaves if AA comes to town and AA claims $3 million in guarantees and then abandons COU, leaving COU with no air service at all) is a little over the top.