And the moral of the story is?

We got a kick out of The Salina Journal’s editorial earlier this week on the legislation aimed at securing $5 million a year in state help to subsidize low fares and expand service at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. Written as a fable headlined “When pigs try to fly,” the editorial cast Wichita as the selfish pig with a “flighty dream.” It was difficult to figure out which players were being portrayed as the hen, cow, duck, cat, dog, etc., and for a moment it seemed as if the pig seeking a bigger sty was actually meant to be Wichita Mayor Carlos Mayans. It concluded, “The Wichita pigs went to Topeka and asked other animals to help. But they all said no. The pigs are on their own, they said, because they never helped anyone else.”
Fortunately, the bill has cleared both chambers of the Legislature as of Friday, because many lawmakers around the state fully recognize the airport’s economic value to Kansas. The end.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

8 Comments

  1. jb
    Posted March 25, 2006 at 12:39 am | Permalink

    Yeah I called the 333 line to this newspaper and left an opinion that pretty much stated how idiotic this editorial was, saying how its obvious you approve it because its the closest major airport near Salina and it keeps revenues out of Oklahoma and Missouri.. Of course they didn’t print my comment…

    This is my hometown newspaper, usually they aren’t so bad but they blew this one… If you want to call them up and leave your opinion call (785)-823-6464 and punch in extension 333

  2. XXX
    Posted March 25, 2006 at 10:02 am | Permalink

    And my friends wonder why I left Salina.

    Wichita has an image problem in most of the rest of Kansas. Salina has taken a dim view of Wichita as far back as I can remember. You think we have problems with city and county government? you should see the way theirs works (if you can call that working).And remember Westar’s rate equalization a few years back? Salina blamed Wichita for their rates going up. Westar did a wonderful job of turning Kansans against one another. It didn’t take much for them to turn Salina against Wichita.

    “The pigs are on their own, they said, because they never helped anyone else.”

    Salina forgets that until very recently, Wichita was the economic engine that pulled this state, including Salina.

    Maybe Salina considers Mid-Continent competition to their airport. Salina has longer air strips (old SAC base). Flying in and out of Salina is an experience to remember. You’ll love it when the pilot comes back and re-arranges the seating before they take off.

  3. raptor
    Posted March 25, 2006 at 11:13 am | Permalink

    Something tells me the people that don’t understand the editorial have never read the novel, “Animal Farm”, where the pigs (or, communists) tried to take over the barnyard.

  4. Todd
    Posted March 25, 2006 at 3:01 pm | Permalink

    I don’t really care what salina thinks of Wichita. I just think the Wichita airport needs to stand on its own two feet, and get off the public tit. If it’s a money loser, it should be treated as such.

  5. JustTheFacts
    Posted March 25, 2006 at 8:45 pm | Permalink

    If you took the time to study the issue you would realize that this was about the state of Kansas not Wichita or Sedgwick County.

    I looked at the map of the state supplied by the county and was surprised to see that this airport covers the majority of the state and a good portion into Oklahoma. I also learned that this is the largest airport in the state of Kansas. When you fly out of Kansas City you are not spending money in Kansas.

    If the state can keep low airfares here we might be able to draw some more airlines. So this could be a good thing not just for Wichita but for the state.

  6. KansasClassicLiberal
    Posted March 26, 2006 at 11:10 am | Permalink

    I wonder how holding airfares artificially low will encourage other airlines to enter the Wichita market?

    Unless, of course, the new airlines get subsidies.

  7. Joe Williams
    Posted March 26, 2006 at 7:54 pm | Permalink

    KCL. It’s about passenger traffic. Wichita is in a catch 22 position and geographically challenged.

    More airlines and flights won’t come into Wichita, because people go out of town to KC or OKC to catch those flights, and the reason why people do that, is because Wichita fairs are high and destination points are limited.

    But if we can get more people flying out of Wichita, then more airlines will come in. But how are we going to do that? Well! Subsidize one carrier to encourage people to fly out of Wichita in hopes that passenger traffic increases to attract others.

    Hopefully it works. We have 5 years to see if it does.

  8. KansasClassicLiberal
    Posted March 27, 2006 at 4:39 am | Permalink

    Where it is that you can get to from Kansas City that you can’t get to from Wichita?

    Isn’t it true, Joe, that the legacy airlines have reduced the number of flights they offer from Wichita?

    Isn’t is also true that when the price of something is lowered that more is demanded, but in turn, less is supplied (considering companies other than those that receive the subsidy)?

    Do you think that any other airline will start or increase its operations in Wichita unless they also receive a subsidy?

    We should be grateful that the “real” airlines, the legacy airlines that everyone loves to hate, the airlines we must rely on to get to places all across the county, have not abandonded Wichita entirely.