DuBois Regional Airport Looks to Future, Not Past

REYNOLDSVILLE, Pa. (EYT) – Bob Shaffer, manager of the DuBois Regional Airport, has a term for stories about the airport losing its Essential Air Service (EAS) Assistance: “Old news.”

“The report they’re talking about was from October 1, 2016, to September 30, 2017,” he said. “That’s a period of time that happened almost two years ago. We are doing much, much better now and are much more reliable.”

Times change, but the EAS is a product of the past, which Shaffer explained.

“When they deregulated the airlines back in the Eighties,” Shaffer said, “They created the Essential Air Service Assistance for smaller communities who would normally not be able to provide an air service once deregulation started. They established two criteria: 10 people flying per day and seats at or under $200.00.”

Despite the fact that a lot has changed since the 1980s, including the value of $200.00 thanks to inflation, the numbers are hard and fast. DuBois easily meets the 10 flyers per day, but during the time in question, a seat cost $313.00.

“There a lot of things that happened in the eighties in aviation that we still have to deal with today,” Shaffer said. “But, moving forward, we are working on the cost per ticket. We are down from that $313.00, and we’re asking for a waiver for the $200.00 provision.”

Since September 2017, DuBois Regional Airport switched from Silver Airways to Southern Airways.

“In 2016, we were going to Dallas,” Shaffer said. “Now, Southern takes our flyers to Pittsburgh and Baltimore. And the community has responded. People are happy with our destinations and they want to go to those cities.”

Shaffer also said that if you look at the numbers from Quarter One of 2017 and compare them to Quarter One of 2018, they are running 46% ahead.

“I believe that growth is sustainable,” he said. “We’re moving ahead and I am confident that we will not have to deal with that waiver in the future.”