SAFFORD — The City of Safford wants to know what residents think about air travel.
The city has a five-question survey at Safford Passenger Air Service Survey (surveymonkey.com), asking if the public would be interested in commercial travel from Safford Airport to Phoenix or Tucson, or even to vacation destinations such as Las Vegas.
The survey also asks how much the public would be willing to spend on such a flight.
Following the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978, which gave airlines the power to decide what markets they serve, the U.S. Department of Transportation created the Essential Air Service Program. The EAS helps subsidize commercial flights from small and rural airports, generally two flights a day in planes with 30 to 50 seats, or more frequently with planes of nine seats or more.
The subsidy is capped at $200 per passenger and requires a minimum of 10 enplanements per service day. The subsidy is paid to the air carrier, not the city.
As of December 2021, there are 110 cities in the continental United States participating in the Essential Air Service Program, including Page, Prescott and Show Low.
