Passenger service here touch-and-go; area airports remain viable

By EMILY JO CURETON

ALPINE – This Saturday the Alpine Casparis Airport will host an all-day celebration 100 years in the making.

When the first transcontinental flight stopped here in 1911, only a handful of people had ever seen an airplane, let alone flown in one. The pilot of that wood and cloth contraption, Cal Rodgers, took 49 days to fly from New York to California.

Today, an estimated 50,000 people fly each day. You can get from El Paso to China in less than 24 hours.

But first you got to get to El Paso or Odessa/Midland.

For all the dazzling progress of the past century, area residents still traverse upwards of 200 miles to access a commercial airport.

As Allen Anthony recounts in his history of “Little Airlines in the Big Bend,” various commercial outfits have tried to service this area since the 1940s, none with lasting success.

Things got off to a romantic enough start in 1948, when Big Bend passengers first enjoyed the convenience of Trans-Texas Airways, and the charms of “stewardesses” dressed in kitschy western uniforms complete with hats, neckerchiefs and cowboys boots. By 1960 Trans-Texas moved on and service became touch-and-go from there on out.

Solar Airlines ran flights from Mexico to the Big Bend, and lasted just a year in the mid 1960s. One of the investors concluded that the ill-fated venture was simply “twenty years ahead of our times”.

West Texas Airways was another blip on the radar during the last half of 1973. Next came Big Bend Airways, equally short-lived. And finally, in 1992 Lone Star Airlines tried to reinvigorate the market, only to call it quits by 1995.

Sparse population, isolation, bumpy skies, industry deregulation and high cost of service all contribute to the perpetual unviability of commercial passenger planes in the Big Bend, where active little airports in Alpine, Marfa and Presidio host plenty of other interests, from law enforcement and Border Patrol, to sailplanes, the tourist jet set, ranchers, the Texas Department of Public Safety, medevac emergencies and firefighters.

In the early 2000’s David Busey represented the City of Alpine on a Regional Air Service Task Force, which evaluated the Alpine airport in regards to its economic viability, impact on the community and feasibility of passenger service.

Busey concluded there is little chance of resurrecting the days of flight attendants in neckerchiefs and 30 minute hops to El Paso, unless Alpine became part of the Essential Air Service Program, (EAS), a government subsidy overseen by the Department of Transportation, meant to serve rural communities across the country that prior to airline deregulation in 1978, were served by certificated airlines. The program has recently come under fire for serving only 153 communities, many of them close to major airports, at a cost of $200 million per year.

Here’s hoping. In the meantime, we celebrate.

On Saturday, things kick off at the Casparis Aiport in Alpine at 9 am, with opening ceremonies at 10:30 am and live music from local favorites, Ranger Canyon from noon to 3 pm. Check out historic planes and Vietnam-era helicopters; hear stories from local aviators; see a century of history; watch out for a fleet of finely honed remote control airplanes.

Admission to the event is $10 per car.