More than 14 small airports have lost commercial service; rural places face travel costs, job loss and more isolation

Boarding at a small airport (Photo by Billy Calzada, San Antonio Express-News)

Airlines don't have enough pilots to fly all their planes, so, in response, service to rural areas has been facing cuts at an "almost unheard of pace," reports Liz Crampton of Politico. "Since January 2020, at least 324 airports have seen service cuts, losing an average of 30 percent of their flights, according to the Regional Airline Association. More than 14 airports have lost commercial service completely, including places such as Mobile, Ala.; Ogden, Utah; Stowe, Vt., and Williamsport, Pa. . . . Drew Jacoby Lemos, vice president of government affairs for the RAA, said that his membership has more than 400 planes grounded because airlines can’t find enough pilots to fly them."

Since the pandemic began in early 2020, "National airlines have rapidly pulled out of rural airports. . . . It's fostering a sense of isolation that's frustrated small-town Americans fed up with big business and Washington," Crampton writes. "American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Airlines say they are constrained by a pilot shortage that has forced them to scale back service or stop flying entirely from certain airports. In the face of a financial squeeze, routes from regional airports are often the first to be eliminated. . . . American alone said its lack of pilots has been the equivalent of taking more than 150 regional planes out of service."

Carriers' desertion of Iowa's Dubuque airport is an example of what the loss costs a region. "Now, locals and visitors need to drive approximately 80 miles to Moline or Cedar Rapids, or, to get to bigger destinations, three hours to Chicago, mostly using a two-lane road," Crampton writes. "Losing air service cost the Dubuque airport nearly 200 jobs and reduced its economic output by more than $26 million, according to an economic impact analysis the city paid for comparing data from 2019 to 2022. . . . Repercussions may extend beyond financial losses. Dubuque Mayor Brad Cavanagh believes that nothing else will have a greater impact on politics in the decade ahead than further isolating cities like his." Cavanagh told Crampton, "In rural communities like ours, there's no way we're going to survive long-term without air service. We're going to die a slow, agonizing death."

Crampton reports, "States can try to expand the pool of pilots by expanding flight education programs and recruitment of high school students. But the airline industry believes the most effective solution to resolving the shortage needs to come at the federal level. . . . As Congress gears up for Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization, cities grappling with reduced service are lobbying lawmakers to grow the size of a grant program designed to help small communities address air service issues. . . . .There's also an effort to increase student loan caps for accredited pilot training programs to ease education costs."

Meanwhile, airlines have raised pilots' hourly wages. "To attract more people to the profession," Crampton adds. "First-year captains working at the regional carriers under American Airlines will earn $146 an hour and entry-level pilots $90 an hour, up from $78 and $51 an hour, the company announced last year." Across the board, airlines such as Delta Air have increased pilot salaries and negotiated contracts that address work/life balance; those changes could help pilots servicing smaller regions tap into additional benefits.