I was reading the Freakonomics Blog (free registration may be required to read) and came across something I had not considered before. The blog post in question is basically a rant about how horrible Delta’s service was (despite how lovely all of their employees were). One reader’s comment was interesting:
Obviously, there’s a definite military application to the Interstate system. That’s why Eisenhower wanted it built. But is there a pressing military need to keep commercial air travel running? Is it just to have spare capacity to transport troops/supplies if needed? I sort of always assumed any corporate welfare the airline industry received was more to keep the machinery of US business and tourism running, rather than for any possible military reason. Any thoughts?
Every TDY, in which I went overseas in the USAF, I flew out of a commercial airport on a commercial plane that was full of military people. How do you think the military gets everyone where they need to go?
Yep. How do you think all of those troops get to where they are going? A big proportion of them are handed airline tickets for domestic carriers and sent to civilian airports - and many big airports have a USO lounge or other military space inside.
Between military and civilian government travel, the government is the largest airline customer.
My first flight on an airplane was to go to boot camp - the MEPS station in Pittsburgh handed me an airline ticket to get from Pittsburgh to Chicago. I’m sure lots of people had the same experience.
I flew Northwest to Korea thanks to Uncle Sam. The return trip took me through Hawaii, where I was able to sweet talk a gate agent to get let me turn my layover into a 4 day island junket.
Uncle Sam also has the right to grab the use of all planes in the US in case of need. FedEx could be called on to haul ammo and supplies, for example. This is somewhere in the FAA codes I think (Tom Clancy uses it in his China vs. Russia book).
I would assume that the desire is to always have enough US based airlines so that if they needed to take control of them, it would be easier. If all of the planes were, instead, European based then there might be a bit of pushback if the US demanded that flights be cancelled and the planes be used for moving soldiers, sailors and marines.
I wonder why some genius doesn’t think about this in regards to commercial shipping (where no ships are flagged as US due to tax and other considerations).
The military keeps a fleet of prepositioning ships stocked and ready to surge in the event of war, run by the Military Sealift Command. This may be augmented by foreign cargo vessels chartered to carry military cargo, if needed.
If this doesn’t suit our needs, the cargo vessels kept in reserve may be reactivated.
Sure, but if it is worthwhile to protect us airlines to ensure a smooth supply, wouldn’t it make sense to protect (or even enable) a US based shipping industry?
This is actually becoming a hijack - it just never ceases to amaze me how strong the Liberian Merchant Navy is based on ships I see in port around here! I realize this is analogous to the overcrowding in Delaware with all of those corporations headquartered there, but…
IIRC, the program is called the CRAF – something like the Civilian Air Reserve Fleet – and I don’t think I would call it corporate welfare. I think of corporate welfare as companies getting something for pretty much nothing.
But in the case of the CRAF, airlines commit to having a certain amount of their fleet available for military emergencies, including maintaining readiness of crews for those planes, and the DOD pays them to participate in the program. In a certain sense, it runs kind of like an insurance policy: DOD pays premiums to airlines to maintain access to airlift, therefore avoids having to purchase, crew, and maintain a lot more cargo planes than it currently does. And airlines take the risk of having some of their fleet pulled out of service at the drop of a hat, and are compensated for that risk. I don’t believe that there is any requirement for civil airlines to participate in the program.
I think they also do it for the same reason they support gun manufacturers, so that the manufacturing capacity will always be there in case of an emergency. If airlines go out of business, Boeing won’t be far behind.
You got it right on, Ravenman. The program is called Civil Air Reserve Fleet. The benefits to the military are obvious–we have enough aircraft to get Service Members where they need to be via commercial aircraft. The cargo holds in the participating aircrafts are also big enough the the unit being deployed can be semi-sufficient. There are, IIRC, four levels of activation for CRAF. The first level is about what we are on now. There are always units coming and going in and out of theater and CRAF is used to deploy and redeploy these units.
Level 4 would be something akin to World War III in which all air traffic was Soldiers going into a combat zone. It would be able to carry damn near every available Troop. Things won’t get to that level, but Uncle Sam is prepared for that contingency.
Participation in CRAF is voluntary by the airlines, but the benefit is that we use those carriers as been described above. The airlines that participate in CRAFF are the ones the US Military uses to fly Sevice Members to Basic Training, to duty stations, and for temporary duty assignments (TDY).
All I can tell you is that the times my reserve unit was deployed to Europe for the annual NATO war games (Reforger) while the Soviet Union was still around, at least one leg of the trip was made on a chartered civilian airliner. I can tell you all that an Air Malaysia 747 is not set up to accommodate a full sized, well fed, mature American male with two duffle bags, full web gear, a rifle and side arm, shovel, canteen , gas mask, steel pot helmet and two ammo pouches. Try spending nine of ten hours with all that stuff in a seat designed for a person standing no more than 5’ 6".
The answer is that without civilian airlines on call it would be very hard to make even routine and planned large troop movements. I suppose military aircraft could be used to transport small quick reaction forces but military capabilities are not sufficient to move larger formations in a timely fashion.
The fact is that airlines are very solicitous of the government, and make sure that orders to provide flights are never needed. With all the support that the government has given to the entire phenomenon of Commercial Air Service, no one wants the legislature wondering if they need a law compelling emergency service to the military under the concept of eminent domain.
Much better to be a good friend of your rich uncle, than to have him charge you rent for flying through the air.
The joke it that the Soldiers who are on baggage detail (that is the Soldiers who put the bags of the deploying Soldiers on the the aircraft get to sit in first class). IME, the aircraft I have been on, either there is no first class seating, or the baggage detail are taken from another Unit that is not deploying. YMMV