Boutique Air

As it's the US taxpayer funding these programs, the bids from airlines to operate these routes are a matter of public record, providing a truly unique glimpse into accurate operating costs for a single airline route.

While they competed against Boutique Air, Cape Air ended up winning the bid, so they now operate the route to Rockland, Maine.

In exchange, they received a subsidy of $2,218,126 for their first year, 2018 to 2019, ramping up to $2,495,090 by their fourth.

Rockland is a tourist hotspot in the summer, but it returns to a quieter state for the rest of the year, so the airline's obligations for flight frequency varies by the season, anywhere between three daily round-trip flights in winter to six in the summer.

A quite reasonable question would be why the American government is paying United Airlines four million seven hundred and eighty thousand nine hundred and fifty-five dollars a year to fly from their hub in Newark to the small northern Maine town of Presque Isle.

The question could also be asked for why they pay Boutique Air three million three hundred and twenty-eight thousand two hundred and seven dollars a year to fly from Dallas and Houston to the small Texan city of Victoria, or why United Airlines is paid two million three hundred and seventeen thousand seventy-three dollars a year to fly from Denver to Pueblo, Colorado.

Well, these are subsidies and, in some cases, quite hefty ones.

Take that flight from Houston to Victoria, Texas.