US Government Paying for empty flights to rural airports.

One more example of the absolute insanity that is the federal government, which has become so large and so corrupt that this kind of nonsense continues to happen.

"On some days, the pilots with Great Lakes Airlines fire up a twin-engine Beechcraft 1900 at the Ely, Nev., airport and depart for Las Vegas without a single passenger on board. And the federal government pays them to do it.

Federal statistics reviewed by The Associated Press show that in 2010, just 227 passengers flew out of Ely while the airline got $1.8 million in subsidies. The travelers paid $70 to $90 for a one-way ticket. The cost to taxpayers for each ticket: $4,107."

"Ely is one of 153 rural communities where airlines get subsidies through the $200 million Essential Air Service program,"

"The fight over the subsidies was a key sticking point that led to the recent political standoff in Washington that temporarily shut down the Federal Aviation Administration, putting thousands out of work for nearly two weeks. "

""If you take away air service, who wants to live in those communities?" she said."

hosted.ap.org...

This is absolutely typical. The folks who are operating these airlines and flying these planes with no passengers should be brought up on charges. They are committing fraud, but any reasonable definition. The folks in Washington who administer this budget and understand that this fraud is going on should be brought up on fraud charges. This amounts to a consipracy to defraud the tax payers.

Enough of the shoulder shrugging and acceptance that this is the way it is. Lets put some of these folks in jail for ripping the public off or sue them in civil court and make them make restitution.

As far as the last line in the quote above that without this air service nobody would want to live in these communities, who the hell cares? People are making a choice to live in those communities, I did not. I don't care if every one of those communities is a ghost town in a year. I certainly am not interested in paying for people who choose to live there to have access to a cheap flight that is costing the tax payer $4K.

Simple solution for folks who live there and would find it difficult to do so absent air service. Move. By your own plane, charter a plane when you want to fly or move.

Jesus #ing christ... when will this bull# end? Mansanto, GE, Big banks, GM, Big Oil, airlines... it wont stop, and we're getting chewed up out here!

argument #2345 for the logic of lack of government involvement. Poor Ronald Reagan must get no rest, rolling in his grave non stop!

These are the types of issues, that if fixed, would help our country!

Lets literally throw tons of money at things that don't need it.

Sometimes a little common sense is all that's needed..

Hah, figures, there's other options unlike the excuse about the communities as mentioned in the article.

Some companies(SW Airlines)are trimming flights that commute shorter distances, to save money with flights that didn't have many passengers. Less options with that one, different opportunity with another that has more costumers.

Originally posted by dolphinfan
"On some days, the pilots with Great Lakes Airlines fire up a twin-engine Beechcraft 1900 at the Ely, Nev., airport and depart for Las Vegas without a single passenger on board. And the federal government pays them to do it.

The folks who are operating these airlines and flying these planes with no passengers should be brought up on charges.

I'd just like to point out the possibility that there might be passengers on the return journey.
Thus, the plane would have to fly to Las Vegas anyway.

Nevertheless, its clearly government waste. Not convinced the pilot should be sent to jail as you request though.

The government has get it's priorities right....here is a good example of Uncle Sam at work:

A total of $3 million has been granted to researchers at the University of California at Irvine so that they can play video games such as World of Warcraft. The goal of this "video game research" is reportedly to study how "emerging forms of communication, including multiplayer computer games and online virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft and Second Life can help organizations collaborate and compete more effectively in the global marketplace."

This is very important stuff! Lobby your local rep!

They were sneaking goodies out to vegas for the Senators and the Governor, why else would they do that, they could just leave the planes on the ground a just say they flew back and forth

i heard about this last week and its total garbage just think how many more people they could feed

instead of wasting taxpayer dime on a service that isnt needed.

just goes to show congressman dont care about doing the right thing all they care about is bringing home the bacon aka pork barrel spending.

bunch of crooks in dc and guess what as long as they bring home the bacon the taxpayers of the respective states dont care.

i do and you do but this has gone on for decades.