Even when all its flights are fully booked, a small, rural airport like Cortez serves relatively few passengers, and frequently, carriers fly in and out with empty seats.

In order to balance the effect of low passenger volume, Great Lakes Aviation receives an Essential Air Service (EAS) subsidy from the Federal Aviation Administration for flights through Cortez. The EAS program helps to guarantee air service to rural communities whose populations might not be sufficient to support an unsubsidized airline. According to Russ Machen, assistant manager of the Cortez airport, Great Lakes is reimbursed for every flight it actually completes, and is eligible to receive $408,227 this year.

In order to collect the full amount, Great Lakes must complete 18 round-trip flights here each week. With only 19 scheduled, and an average of more than two canceled each week for the past three months, it’s clear the airline is not meeting that mandate.

But, Machen said, beyond the loss of the subsidy, the FAA has few mechanisms for forcing Great Lakes to make its scheduled flights.

"The FAA can apply pressure, but there’s really no hold on them if they don’t complete their schedule," Machen said.

"Hopefully, we will get some response if the FAA is asking some questions of United and Great Lakes," said Cortez City Manager Hal Shepherd, who is also the airport manager. "Up to this point, I do not think they were aware of the problem."

Luther Dietrich of the FAA Office of Aviation Analysis, in charge of the Essential Air Service program for this part of the United States, said pilot shortage is an industry-wide reality, and although the FAA could conduct what he termed "enforcement proceedings," seeking civil penalties from the carrier for refusal or failure to provide service, such action would not solve the problem.

"It is not clear to the department at this point that it would be in the best interest to take any sort of punitive action against Great Lakes," Dietrich said. "We do not have the power to make pilots magically appear and alleviate the shortage.

"If they are doing their best to keep whatever service they can in place, then basically we have to grit our teeth and let that stand."

Dietrich also said that few passengers boarding in Cortez might ultimately translate into higher subsidy rates or reduced flight requirements — for example, two round trips per weekday rather than the current three. Such action would require 90 days’ notice to the FAA, the state and the community, and at that point another carrier with a better pilot pool could bid to serve Cortez, according to Dietrich.

AIRPORT CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS

City officials are also concerned about low passenger numbers, because the money the city receives from the FAA for airport capital improvements can be based on boarding numbers.

If more than 10,000 passengers board in Cortez, the airport is guaranteed funding based on a formula that incorporates passenger numbers. This year, the grant would have been $550,000, and a 10-percent match would have been required. That money can be accumulated for up to three years to fund larger projects.

"We can do a lot with that amount," Machen said.

"Until we pass 10,000, we don’t fall under that category," he explained, noting that in 1998, 9,281 passengers used the airport, and through the end of October 1999, the passenger census was 7,318. With 19 flights scheduled each week, and 19 seats on each flight, the airport has the potential to serve more than 18,000 passengers annually — if the flights are completed, and if travelers use them.