They Refuse To Back Down In FAA Dispute Over AirTran Subsidies

When the city of Wichita, KS, responds to FAA demands that it drop millions of dollars in subsidies to AirTran, one officials said there will be no concessions. That could likely spark a legal showdown over the FAA's contention that Wichita is favoring one airline over another in a move that could jeopardize the city's federal airport grants.

"We're not changing our position," City Attorney Gary Rebenstorf told the Wichita Eagle.

As ANN reported earlier this month, Wichita came under fire from the FAA for giving AirTran $7.5 million in direct payments over the past three years to subsidies flights to and from Atlanta. Delta Airlines, which flies the same route, receives no such payments from the city. Wichita leaders said they want to provide a low-cost alternative to Delta and couldn't otherwise attract another discount carrier without the subsidies.

The FAA sent a chilling letter to the Wichita City Council last month, warning that Mid-Continent Airport could lose millions in government grants for violating a basic tenet of those grants -- discriminating against one or more airlines by favoring another.

Delta complained to the FAA, asking not that Wichita end its payments to Airtran. Instead, the Atlanta-based carrier demanded it receive similar subsidies to fly the exact same route.

The FAA suggested Wichita city officials reconstitute its airport board, disbanded in 1999. That way, if the city wanted to continue payments to AirTran, it could do so without violating the FAA's airport grant provisions.

But Wichita city officials not only refused to reconstitute the airport board. Earlier in the month, they approved another $2.5 million in payments to keep AirTran flying from Mid-Continent for another year. Sedgewick County commissioners this month voted to kick in another $1 million.

FMI: www.wichitagov.org, www.faa.gov