Deregulation’s revenge

No doubt Americans within easy driving distance of major airports think the deregulation of the airline industry is just great — low prices and lots of flights. Perhaps some of them have even noticed a recent increase in the number of airplanes available. But if you are sitting in rural America and read that Continental Airlines is further hurting service by cutting flights from your favorite airport, deregulation sounds like a euphemism for poverty.

Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins not only said they were appalled by Continental’s decision to remove its three flights from Bangor International Airport by the end of October, they also exposed the myth that the airlines industry operates in anything like a free market. “Airlines may be privately owned,” they announced in a joint press release, “but taxpayers invest billions of dollars in providing airport infrastructure — from airports to air traffic control — that make good air service possible.”

Their meaning is clear: Either airlines begin offering better service to rural areas or the senators will recommend that Congress reconsider the subsidies the airlines enjoy. It is a threat made necessary by circumstance. The region cannot thrive economically without better air service. Companies will not be attracted to the region; the ones here will begin thinking about the savings they could realize by being near a larger airport.

Things could be worse for the region. BIA Director Bob Ziegelaar has done an outstanding job keeping the facility going, looking for new airlines and trying to expand opportunities here. But he is battling a nationwide trend of airlines going not just to where they can make a profit but to where they can make the greatest profit. That has unfortunate effects for places like the northern two-thirds of Maine, which will never generate in a week the number of customers Newark sees in a couple of hours.

So Bangor fliers have fewer choices for flights, higher ticket prices, more canceled flights and even worse luggage handling than at other airports, as airlines give priority to luggage coming from their own flights over the small connectors that passengers from here are required to take. These problems will grow worse over time, unless Congress steps in.

It should step in not only because of the subsidies but because the federal government has an interest in seeing rural America populated and being something more than reservoirs of natural resources. Congress cannot expect rational debate on the issues of the day if a significant part of the country is denied the opportunity to succeed. And efficient transportation, including air service, is essential to success.