Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RALPH ANSAMI
The federal Essential Air Service program that subsidizes passenger service at the Gogebic-Iron Airport in Ironwood Township has been extended for five years.
The government program currently pays a subsidy for Air Choice One to operate out of Ironwood.
Air Choice One, which has been offering passenger flights at the airport for four years, is currently under a three-year EAS agreement. Commercial air providers are selected for EAS through bidding processes and passenger boardings have increased here since ACO took over.
Ironwood airport flights now are connected to both Chicago and Minneapolis.
Michigan U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow announced the five-year extension as part of the reauthorization of $90 billion over five years for the Federal Aviation Administration.
Funded through the U.S. Department of Transportation, the EAS program provides critical air service that connects rural and remote areas to major hubs, helping to support and grow area businesses and foster economic growth.
The airports in the Upper Peninsula and northern Michigan that will continue to receive EAS funding through 2023 also include: Alpena County Regional Airport, Delta County Airport in Escanaba, Houghton County Memorial Airport, Ford Airport in Kingsford, Manistee County Blacker Airport, Pellston Regional Airport and Chippewa County International Airport in Sault Ste. Marie.
“Communities across northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula rely on dependable air service to support local businesses and jobs,” said Stabenow. “The continuation of air service will not only ensure economic growth, but will benefit our families living in small towns across the region,” she said.
Enacted in 1978, the EAS program has provided commercial service to communities that would otherwise go entirely unserved. The program ensures air carriers serve more than 170 communities across the country.
Stabenow said she has been a “champion” of the EAS program and has continued to advocate for increased funding for it.
In the past, federal financial cutbacks to small airports, like the one in Ironwood, were often threatened.
Gogebic County Board of Commissioners member Joe Bonovetz, of Bessemer, said Wednesday in the past the EAS funding was approved through what are called continuing resolutions by Congress. “That meant we’d end up fighting for those funds,” Bonovetz said.
Now, that funding is assured for at least the next five years.