ABC’s Jonathan Karl reports:
The Greenbrier Valley Airport, the gateway to the ritzy Greenbrier resort where rooms start at $500 a night, is about to get more than $2 million in federal stimulus funds to spruce up the terminal building.
Only two commercial flights a day come in and out of the Lewisburg, W.V., airport and, on average, each plane carries six passengers.
But U.S. tax dollars keep the airport in business. In addition to stimulus funds the airport received, the federal government subsidizes the commercial flights to the tune of $562 per passenger through the FAA’s Essential Air Service program, which supports rural airports through a $175 million annual appropriation.