First Delta Air Lines changes its daily jet service to Boston to a 19-seat propeller plane. Now American Eagle has given notice that its jet service will no longer be available after Nov. 5.

Has anyone taken into consideration that the loss of jobs will be more than just 89 American Eagle employees? With fewer and fewer passengers to screen there will not be any need for a full staff of TSA agents. Car rental, the gift shop and the coffee shop have already seen drastic decline with the business and now these companies may have to decrease their staffing also. The loss of American Eagle is going to have a very large ripple effect on the economy of Eastern and Northern Maine.

With the dropping passenger numbers in the past year, I think the [Bangor] City Council needs to investigate why we are losing so many passengers to other airports. Why can’t Bangor offer the service that Portland and Manchester have? Why does it appear that Bangor charges more for landing fees, jetway rentals, lease and refueling fees than any other airport in the Northeast? Can’t some discount be offered to these airlines in the “off season” to entice a larger airline to bring its planes to Bangor?

American has 800 seats available weekly all year and 1,200 seats during the summer months. Allegiant Air will only offer 300 seats per week and it has no affiliations with our local airlines to reschedule customers should there be any cancellations.

It’s time that the city of Bangor stops sitting on its hands while the airport administration runs its biggest financial entity into the ground. This business is called the Bangor International Airport. They’ve already lost the “international” customers, so city councilors need to step up to the plate before there is no Bangor airport.

George Bailey

Bangor