Originally Posted by
dcpatti
Yup just picking on BGR as the first small airport that popped into my head.
State College, PA, almost anywhere in West VA, Richmond, etc might be other examples I could have used. There's lots of places you can fly from DCA that kind of make me wonder why that route is even around. I've always thought that at least some of these small destinations are kept just for the purpose of camping out on the slot, and that the first chance something "better" comes along, they'll be gone.
That's ok, I live in Maine and make fun of BGR plenty. It is a good example of a small airport being cited by one Congressperson as being a reason she doesn't like this merger, though. Should that matter? I'd say not.
A lot of the smaller airports - one of them in WV is an example - were pork projects. Then, one airline in each gets a subsidy under the Essential Air Service program.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_Air_Service
You can see the list here. There are 3 in Maine, but BGR isn't one of them. Shockingly, US/USX are only on the list once - at Plattsburgh.
That doesn't mean they aren't getting local subsidies, though. BGR, as an example, I'm not sure. But Maine is a huge state and if BGR wasn't there, it'd be an additional 2 hrs to PWM for a lot folks. If you're coming from The County, 4 hrs to get to the airport is awful. At some point, YUL and YQB become closer, but more expensive.