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ABC NEWS: Welcome to the Airport For Nobody: You?ve heard of the Bridge to Nowhere. You might ca?

By Glenn Reynolds

ABC NEWS: Welcome to the Airport For Nobody:

You’ve heard of the Bridge to Nowhere. You might call this the Airport for Nobody. The John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport has an impressive $18 million runway made of reinforced concrete that’s big enough to land any airplane in North America. The airport also has a $7 million air traffic control tower, a $14 million hanger and $8 million radar. Most of the time, the only thing the airport doesn’t have is airplanes. . . .

The federal government provides a subsidy for every flight into the Murtha Airport of about $100 dollars per passenger, but even with the subsidy, there are plenty of empty seats. On a visit to the airport, ABC News found it virtually deserted, with an empty restaurant, vacant lounges and empty runways. An air traffic controller was twiddling his thumbs.

The airport manager, though, speaks well of the funding that provides his job, so that’s something.

Plus, from CNN: Remote Murtha airport lands big bucks from Washington:

The airport offers three commercial flights. In between the arrivals and departures, airport officials admit there are few faces around the facility.

“When the flights are coming in, there are people. Other than that, it’s empty,” said Scott Voelker, manager of the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport.

But one face is everywhere. Rep. John Murtha, the airport’s namesake, is hard to miss.

So where’s that earmark reform we were promised before the election?

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on April 24, 2009 (boomark / email).