Small airports suffer from cuts

As airlines struggle to maintain profitability amid rising fuel costs, smaller airports are suffering for the sins of the carriers, Associated Press reports.

The first markets to experience cuts in service, reduced seats or competition on routes - and therefore higher ticket prices - are invariably the smallest ones, the article claims.

All too frequently regional airports are struggling to attract any commercial airline services, let alone one of the big low-cost carriers, and passengers looking for flights from their local airfield are finding themselves more and more limited.

"The demand is still there," said Phillip Johnson, Deputy Director of Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan. "It's just that our folks are having to go elsewhere to fly."

Terry Anderson, the Executive Director of Tupelo Regional Airport in Mississippi, agreed: "We've had frequent schedule changes this year as airlines try to adjust capacity. Passengers can't rely on a schedule that's in concrete."

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