[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9922]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       ESSENTIAL AIR SERVICE BILL

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, on March 23 the Federal Department of 
Transportation decided to yank funding from the Lancaster Airport in my 
district, denying the airport of its ability to provide commercial air 
services.
  The Department operates a program called the Essential Air Services 
Program which provides subsidies to airlines that serve smaller markets 
that would otherwise go without commercial service. But the Department 
of Transportation is wrong in this case.
  The 68-mile route it chose between Route 30 to Philadelphia 
International Airport takes 3 hours to drive or more. The route most 
commonly used is 80 miles and takes about half that time to drive.
  This week I am introducing a bill to remedy this wrong. The Essential 
Air Services Eligibility Fairness Act will make sure the highway 
mileage between a place and the nearest hub airport will be determined 
by the most commonly used route between the two airports. It will 
protect, in my case, 876,000 air trips that originate every year in 
Lancaster; and it will protect the other small market airports around 
the country that provide convenient air service for millions.

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