If you look on a map, Page, Arizona, appears fairly remote. It’s surrounded by desert on the shores of Lake Powell, just across the border from Utah. By car, Page is about 4.5 hours from Las Vegas or Phoenix, the nearest big cities.
And yet, this town with a population of around 7,500 has two daily flights to Phoenix thanks to the Essential Air Service program, a subsidy that allows small communities to stay connected to the national aviation network.
Those flights help keep the tourist-dependent economy in Page afloat, said Michael Schneider, a regional director of sales and marketing for Aramark, which operates tours on the Colorado River out of Page under the Wilderness River Adventures brand in contract with the National Park Service.
“We really rely on these Essential Air flights,” Schneider said. “We need the tourists to come in to keep the economy alive in Page. That’s what most people work in, our restaurants, hotels, activity tourism-type of things. That’s pretty much what the city is run on.”
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What is the Essential Air Service?
The Essential Air Service (EAS) program is a government grant that subsidizes airlines to fly to small communities.
EAS was developed in response to airline deregulation legislation that was passed in 1978, according to Daniel Friedenzohn, professor of aeronautical science and associate dean of the…
