Paul Hammel
Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN — Citing concerns expressed to his office, State Auditor Mike Foley said his office will explore a $3 million grant given to a airline that is soon quitting service at the Lincoln Airport.
Foley, in a letter to the Lincoln Airport Authority on Friday, said his office had fielded concerns about the large outlay given to the Colorado startup that has provided service out of Lincoln for about three months.
An audit of how the money was spent, Foley wrote, would provide “accurate information to taxpayers” and could clear up “misperceptions about government.”
“We will try to do so in a timely manner, believing this to be a valuable service to the state’s citizens,” the auditor wrote.
Red Way Airlines received $3 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds from Lancaster County and the City of Lincoln to expand flights from the Lincoln Airport. Each entity provided $1.5 million of the funds it got from the act.
For a time, Red Way offered flights to Minneapolis, Atlanta and Austin, Texas, before dropping them earlier this month and focusing on routes to Las Vegas and Orlando.
Then the Lincoln Journal-Star reported Thursday that the company would be ceasing all service from Lincoln at the end of the month after failing to attract enough passengers. In the Journal-Star story, officials with the airport board and the Lancaster Board of Commissioners expressed disappointment that the service would be ending. One official described it as a “failed experiment.”
Foley, in his letter, pointed out that state law requires the local government involved, in this case the Lincoln Airport Authority, to pay the costs of the audit.
