CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Starting next week, for the first time, three towns in the Midwest will get daily air service to and from O'Hare.
Service will begin August 1 between O'Hare and downstate Marion, and between O'Hare and Kirksville, Missouri, and Owensboro, Kentucky.
The Chicago Aviation Department said Contour Airlines will provide service to all three towns.
“On behalf of Mayor Brandon Johnson and the people of Chicago, we are thrilled to welcome Contour Airlines to the world’s best-connected hub: O’Hare International Airport,” said CDA Commissioner Jamie L. Rhee.
“This new, frequent service will provide fast connections to points across the globe for tens of thousands of residents in southern Illinois, northern Missouri and western Kentucky.”
The additional service is part of the federal government's Essential Air Service program, which has been around since the Carter administration in the late 1970's. It's designed to provide an air connection to smaller cities after the airline industry was deregulated and the fear was that airlines would shun smaller markets.
The flights are taxpayer subsidized. Attempts in Congress to repeal the Essential Air Service program, which costs an estimated $390 million dollars a year have gone nowhere.
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