May 8, 1999

Sen. McCain hears complaints on air service to Des Moines

By Mike Decaire
CyberCaucus 2000 News Service
Drake University

DES MOINES, Iowa--Arizona Sen. John McCain, a candidate for the Republican nomination for president, came to Iowa April 30 for a Senate Commerce Committee field hearing on aviation competition and service.

In the Cloud Room at the Des Moines airport, with the sounds of jets overhead, McCain heard business travelers, politicians and airport officials tell horror stories of how deregulation of airlines has led to outrageous airfares in smaller markets like Des Moines, while large airlines act as predators against those who would try to compete.

"It's costing us jobs," Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin said of the high airfares to and from the Des Moines airport.

McCain expressed his displeasure that legislation that would have attempted to stop airlines from keeping airfares high by driving out competition had died in Congress last year, and he said the legislation was up for debate again. Harkin, a Democrat, said he and Republican Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley would offer an amendment to the bill that would eliminate the "slot rule" at major airports O'Hare in Chicago, and LaGuardia and Kennedy in New York. The slot rule limits which airlines can take off and land at the major airports.

Grassley was not at the hearing, but McCain also heard from Iowa Rep. Jim Nussle, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, Iowa Rep. Leonard Boswell and Iowa Rep. Greg Ganske. Arlene Curry, vice president of Siouxland Chamber of Commerce; Doug Siedenburg, chairman of the air service council of Des Moines; Lee Clancey, mayor of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Tom Baldwin, chairman of the airport commission at the Dubuque (Iowa) Regional Airport, also testified at the hearing.

Siedenburg said when businesses think of relocating to Iowa, the questions they most commonly ask are about the cost of labor, the cost of real estate and the cost of air service. He said that since low-fare carrier Vanguard left Des Moines in 1996, the answer to the third question has not been easy to give.

"We ask for a level playing field," he said.

Clancey agreed. "We have an inability to attract new business or help expansion of existing businesses," she said. Several of those who testified said they were hoping that AccessAir, a low-fare carrier operating in Des Moines, would not be driven out as they said Vanguard was three years ago.