Airports in Rutland and Lebanon spared from House bill

The Rutland Southern Regional Airport in Vermont and the Lebanon Municipal Airport in New Hampshire have been spared from a House bill that, if passed, would cut a federal subsidy to numerous rural airports across the country.
According to Andrew Bonney, the vice president for planning for Cape Air, a regional airline that serves the two small airports in Rutland and Lebanon, the bill in Washington is attempting to eliminate ‘wasteful’ spending on airports that are within 90 miles of a major airport hub; both the Rutland and the Lebanon airport were further than this distance. 13 airpots across the country are still at risk if the bill is passed.
The federal government provides the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with funding for their Essential Air Service Program that subsidizes rural airports across the country. The Rutland airport receives $797,000 a year from this program and the Lebanon airport receives $2.3 million.
Cape Air flies nine passenger planes to Boston from Rutland and nine passenger planes form the Lebanon airport to both Boston and the New York City area. Bonney said that the popularity of these two airports is actually increasing and flights not funded by the federal government are being added to the schedules; eventually, both airports hope to be completely free from the Essential Air Service Program.