Audit: Kansas airfare subsidies impact overstated

? Airfare subsidies at Wichita Midcontinent Airport generate only about a third of the jobs its supporters had claimed, a state audit found.

The Legislative Division of Post Audit report further contended that the state subsidies generate less than half of the overall economic benefit estimated in a 2008 Wichita State University study commissioned by the Airport Authority.

“Overall, the economic impact of the state Affordable Airfares Fund has been significantly overstated,” the report said.

The Wichita Eagle reported Thursday that the audit credited the program with helping increase traffic at Mid-Continent and helping reduce the cost of flights.

At stake is whether the Legislature should continue contributing $5 million a year to the program. The audit was presented Wednesday to the joint Legislative Post Audit Committee.

Those audit findings drew a sharp response from officials at the Regional Economic Area Partnership, which administers the program. They claimed the auditors made errors in methodology that understated the jobs and economic impact.

The city of Wichita, which owns the airport and started the low-fare service, contended that even the lower level of benefits found by the audit justify continuing the program.

An average round-trip ticket from Mid-Continent dropped from about $390 to $325 between 2006, when the state funding began, and 2009, the audit found.

Wichita airfares were more than 20 percent above the national average in 2006, but by 2009 that gap had narrowed to 5 percent above the national average.

Passenger traffic increased 30 percent from 2000 to 2007.

Almost the entire subsidy in the last allocation went to AirTran Airways, which got $4.88 million, said Wichita lobbyist Dale Gotter. Frontier Airlines got $125,000.

The $5 million contributed by the state is matched by a $1 million contribution each from the city and Sedgwick County.

The WSU study estimated AirTran presence accounted for 9,720 jobs, counting airline employees and indirect jobs from the increased airport traffic.

But the audit contended only 3,178 direct and indirect jobs were actually created.