USA Today has taken a critical look at
the federal grants that are being used to build little-used airports and keep them in business.
Many of the smaller airports that the money is going toward don't have commercial traffic, and sometimes only a few private planes regularly take off from, or land at, them.
Is this worth the money we are spending?
USA Today reported:
"In the first full accounting of the 28-year-old Airport Improvement Program, USA TODAY found that Congress has directed $15 billion to general-aviation airports, which typically are tucked on country roads and industrial byways.
"Members of Congress say the general-aviation airports can attract development and provide services such as air-medical transport.
"The lawmakers also regularly use general-aviation airports to get around their districts and states, sometimes in planes with lobbyists. Members of Congress took 2,154 trips on corporate-owned jets from 2001 to 2006, according to a 2006 study by PoliticalMoneyLine, an independent research group.
"Critics say the number of subsidized airports with no commercial flights is excessive at a time when larger airports are struggling to deal with delays in air traffic, and that much of the money the general-aviation airports get benefits only a few private pilots.
'" 'Congressmen are spending millions building runways at these little airports. That is just a complete waste of money,' says Jonathan Ornstein, CEO of Mesa Air Group, a regional air carrier. 'There is a huge requirement to overhaul infrastructure at major airports.'
"General-aviation airports handle mostly recreational planes and corporate jets -- usually just a few each hour. Half of the airports are within 20 miles of another private-aviation airport, a USA TODAY analysis shows."
USA Today has also provided an interactive map that you can use to localize this story. You can select small, medium or large airports to see the federal government grants they have received.
