Federal Subsidy to “Regional Airlines” in USA －The detailed situation in USA and the related proposal to the current situation in Japan－

Abstract

In the United States, the “deregulation of aviation” was carried out in 1978, and the “regional airline network” has been largely expanded since then. However, at the same time, it was anticipated that “essential air service” (EAS) with small demand should disappear, and the “EAS program” by federal government was introduced, and the essential air service was maintained. While in Japan, the “final deregulation of aviation” was carried out in February 2000, 22 years behind USA. The deregulation was realized under the circumstance where infrastructure is still poor in Japan, if compared with USA. I studied deeply into the details of “EAS program” in the “regional airline” in USA, and I tried to make a proposal to the current “regional airlines” in Japan after the deregulation. In Japan, the federal subsidy to the regional airline between island cities was introduced in 1999, and I consider the same federal subsidy should also be introduced to the regional airlines between town cities with small demand.