July 21--Onslow County officials say a proposed airline merger could affect direct flights from Albert J. Ellis Airport to Washington D.C.
County officials are asking the U.S. Justice Department to support the merger between U.S. Airways and American Airlines, but are asking not to support forcing the combined airline to give away or sell some of its landing slots.
"What we're saying is if the Department of Justice requires ... the combined airline to give up some of those slots, some of the smaller airports that have direct flights that go into D.C. might lose some of their flights," Airport Director Chris White said.
White said that while airlines make money from smaller airports such as Albert J. Ellis, they make more money off the bigger city airports and, if they must cut landing slots, smaller airports could be the first to see the cuts.
The Onslow County Board of Commissioners signed a resolution supporting the merger during Monday night's regular meeting.
"It's just an effort on our part to preserve our direct flight to Washington DC. ... We have a lot of people who take that flight, who like that flight," White said. "We'd actually like to get more flights to Washington D.C. in the future, but we want to keep what we have."
Direct flights to Washington D.C. began May 2012.
White said there is one flight to Washington D.C. that leaves daily at 6 a.m. and returns at 10:30 p.m.
On average, about 75 percent of the 50 seats of the U.S. Airways flight are full, he said.
Amanda Hickey is the government reporter at The Daily News. She can be reached at [email protected].
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