There was an interesting thread on here a few months ago about cities that used to have commercial air service but no longer do, particularly post-deregulation. That, plus a recent look at a Southern Airways route map circa 1969, got me thinking--why do certain small communities have EAS while others don't? Why have some communities maintained their scheduled air service to this day almost solely because of EAS, while others lost it during deregulation and have never gotten it back, even through EAS?

I know that the EAS policy states that "communities are not eligible to received subsidized air service if they are within 70 driving miles of an FAA-designated Large or Medium Hub airport, or if their subsidy per passenger exceeds $200 (annual subsidy level divided by annual passengers generated)." But there are a number of communities that had air service pre-1978 that fit the description of not being within 70 driving miles of a large or medium hub as determined by the FAA, yet don't have EAS-subsidized service.

Why have certain cities been eliminated over the years ( http://ostpxweb.dot.gov/aviation/x-50%20Role_files/easeliminated.htm )? The original list of eligible cities ( http://ostpxweb.dot.gov/aviation/x-5...e_files/originaleascommunities.pdf ) is quite a bit longer than the number served today. Is it theoretically possible that a city that at some point was eliminated from EAS could re-apply?

[Edited 2009-08-21 13:44:39]