Re: Essential Air Service- Miles City, Montana 

To whom it may concern, ··~ ~;. ~1 

~- :.; J 3D 

As the Mayor of Miles City, Montana, I want to express that it is imperative that we do 

not lose Essential Air Service (EAS) to our community. Our small community is a hub to the 

outlying smaller towns of Broadus, Terry Fallon, Jordan, Forsyth, Rosebud, as well as thousands 

of ranches and farms in the same region. 

I would like to make you aware that we have no public transportation available to our 

region, with the exception of a small bus line called Rimrock Stages, which is at the time is not 

running. If our citizens were to be required to drive to the next closest airport from the Miles 

City Municipal Airport, they would have to drive for as long as four hours to get there. It is 

important to the citizens in our region that, despite living in rural eastern Montana, they have the 

same necessary travel amenities as larger communities. 

The fundamental purpose behind EAS is to ensure that there is commercial air service 

available to less densely populated areas, as a lower population makes the operation of a 

commercial airport unprofitable. I understand that there is a significant financial cost in 

maintaining EAS in our area, but would also like to point out that air service is one of the 

amenities which greatly improves the quality of life in our farming and ranching region. 

Farming and ranching is hard work. In recent years, there has been movement away from 

passing family farms and ranches down to younger generations, in part due to the isolated 

lifestyle that often comes with being a farmer or rancher. 

EAS makes it possible for those who choose to live the farming and ranching life, as well 

as those who reside in the small surrounding towns which support regional farms and ranches, to 

drive to Miles City and be connected to the rest of the country through air travel. I would like to 

point out that without the hard work and dedication ofthe farmers and ranchers in our rural 

region, that the more populous regions in our country would not benefit from the meat, grain, 

vegetables and milk which are produced in eastern Montana. Production of these commodities 

necessarily requires a lot of open space, resulting in lightly populated areas. The very purpose of 

EAS is to ensure that those who are so vital to production of our country's food supply not be 

isolated from the rest of the country by lack of air service. 

We, as Montanans, have a very strong sense of national pride. Montana citizens enlist 

and serve in our military at a higher rate than any other state. When these Montanans return 

home to visit their loved ones while on leave, these soldiers, sailors and Marines utilize EAS. 

Our community also houses the regional V.A. hospital and nursing horne facility. When families 

come to visit our sick and aging veterans, they utilize EAS. 

Just as the farmers and ranchers in our region would never propose that we limit the 

supply of food from our region to the rest of the country, we hope that you will not limit the 

ability of our citizens to be connected to the rest of the country by EAS. Please understand that 

Essential Air Service truly is "essential" to our region. 
C. A. Grenz 

Mayor of Miles City, Montana.