Bangor Wants SCASDP Grant for More New York Service

(MoneyWatch)  This is the last of my week-long look at the 2008 Small Community Air Service Development Program (SCASDP) applications. Monday, I wrote about Elko's bid to support a new Reno flight. Tuesday, I wrote about Escanaba's fight for marketing funds. Wednesday was on Dubuque's unique frequent flier program. And yesterday focused on Midland's attempt to get more service to the West.

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I've saved one of the more mind-boggling SCASDP proposals for last this week. Bangor, Maine seems to have plenty of service, but it apparently doesn't think it has enough. See, it lost its year-round service to New York/La Guardia and it wants it back. Considering the other service the airport has to the area, this one seems completely ridiculous.

Bangor used to have daily service to New York/LaGuardia on American Eagle. That service ended in November 2007, and now it wants $400,000 to bring it back (PDF).

There are a few big problems here. The biggest one is that the airport already has ample service to the New York area via other airports. There is already daily service to Newark on Continental year-round. During the summer, Delta flies daily to JFK and US Airways flies daily to LaGuardia. Does that seem to be so lacking that it would require federal subsidies to get more service? I think not. How do they justify this request?

The daily service to Newark (EWR) now provided by Continental ExpressJet, while much appreciated, suffers high delays and cancellations due to constraints at EWR and does not allow easy access to the metro New York business and leisure districts.

Um, wrong answer. Yes, Newark suffers delays, but LaGuardia and JFK are hardly any better. This proposed new service is not going to solve any problems with reliability. Oh, and "does not allow easy access" the New York? Please. You can hop New Jersey Transit and be in the middle of Manhattan pretty quickly. Newark has not been built up as a major hub because of its ability to draw solely from New Jersey. It is used by New Yorkers every day, often by choice.

There are far better uses for federal funds than adding yet more service to an already decently-served market.