City Sets Stage For Showdown With FAA

The City of Wichita has paid AirTran $7.5 million since 2002 to fly Kansans to its Atlanta hub. Delta wants a piece of the pie and has complained to the FAA -- sparking a letter from government officials to city leaders calling the payments discriminatory and threatening FAA grants to Mid-Continent Airport. Now, in their reply to the FAA, Wichita's lawyers say paying Delta the same subsidies "is like telling the shepherd that he must feed the wolf so that the wolf can get bigger and stronger and slaughter more sheep."

It's the latest shot across the bow in the battle over subsidies at Mid-Continent -- a showdown that could well end up in court.

In its reply to the FAA's April letter, Wichita officials said they have no intention of stopping subsidies to AirTran and have no plans to cut Delta in on the payments.

City leaders denied they've used any FAA airport funds to pay AirTran the subsidies, saying the money came from Wichita's own coffers instead. That sort of funding, according to the city's letter, has already been approved by the FAA, as evidenced by a similar controversy involving Florida's Sarasota-Manatee Airport and its effort to attract more carriers.

Before Wichita started paying subsidies to AirTran, city leaders wrote, Delta charged "monopolistic" prices on flights to and from Wichita. If they're forced to pay Delta the same subsidies they pay Delta, city officials fear Delta will use the money to drive AirTran completely out of the market.

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