Enplanements at Alpena County Regional Airport for March were 765, compared to 639 last year.

As Congress wrestles with the elimination of the Essential Air Service program in President Donald Trump’s proposed budget, down the road those numbers may, or may not, be significant anymore.

In theory the two are unrelated. One doesn’t impact the other directly, but if residents aren’t using the airport at the level where local officials can tap into federal grant dollars, then the interest of airline companies to service Alpena, even with EAS subsidies, wanes.

Until budget negotiations are concluded, we are treating the EAS program as if it will remain. Doing away with a program that impacts 173 communities (including Alpena) is by no means easy. Similar proposals have been made by past presidents, yet the program always has survived.

And yes then, we need to concentrate on the enplanement numbers. Through the first quarter there have been 2,120 enplanements compared to 1,912 last year – not including charter passengers which as of this week had not yet been added into the statistics.

We’ve always contended that having regional air service is an essential element to attracting economic growth for a region.

That being said, then, both the enplanement numbers and EAS preservation are equally important to the airport’s future.