July 23, 2008
At first the Statesman Journal "viewpoint" promoting air service looked like just a little harmless civic breast-beating, not unlike that coming from our elected leaders.
But there's this little matter of $5 million-plus of public money to be spent on modernizing the terminal and lengthening the runway.
What we are seeing here is not just the interruption of Delta's Salem air service, to be resumed "when economic conditions ease." We currently are witnessing the demise of commercial air service as Americans have come to know it.
In a few years, most carriers will be gone, regular flights severely curtailed at all airports, many more crucial than Salem. Routine airline travel will be a thing of the past for most people.
It's irresponsible and clueless for our leaders to squander any public funds on resuscitating local air service, an artifact of the petroleum age that has come and will soon be gone. Even worse, if Oregon's future economic plans rely on Salem air service — as the Statesman Journal editors hint — we're in big trouble.
— David A. Beaton, Salem
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