Quote:
Originally Posted by jimworcs
That is plain wrong. An airline is a business AND public transportation. It is also a business which relies heavily on government support and infrastructure.
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It can't be both. Public transportation, like city busses and commuter rail, is subsidized through taxes. No such subsidy exists for most airlines. Yes there is the EAS (Essential Air Service) program but none of the major airlines participate in that program as the airports involved are too small to support mainline service. It is the smaller commuter carriers that benefit from EAS and it's not a blank check either. The payment is based on the operational loss from serving that airport so in reality the government is paying a subsidy to keep air service at smaller airports and the airlines serving those airports are doing just a bit better thanbreaking even.
Jim you make it seem like the major airlines get millions in operating revenue from the US government which comes from the taxpayers. That is simply the furthest notion from the truth.