I have a college kid that travels to and from Ottawa by plane. The airfare to Boston is over $400 by Porter (via Toronto Island) and often $800 by Air Canada. Air fares fluctuate all the time, we keep our eyes out for bargains. Recently, said kid flew via Ogdensburg International, for $89, but we did have to rent a car to go fetch him.

This is the International Air Terminal:

Oh, the name of the airport:

 

It has a passenger lounge with airline check in:

 

The airline staffer is wearing a coat because he is about to go out to unload the baggage from the incoming plane. Check in closes 10 minutes before flight time, to permit the check in crew time to load the plane, which about 25′ behind the wall shown.

There is security:

 

There is free parking:

 

At last, the big moment when our flight – shown here leaving Boston a few hours earlier- arrives:

 

The airplane is … intimate. Eight passengers. Plus one pilot. No WC.

 

That is not necessarily a co-pilot in the front right seat. It’s a passenger. Take off routine instructions include warnings not to touch the controls:

 

And a sticker on the window advises passengers to not to actually open the window until the plane stops.

One reason flights are cheap out of Ogdensburg is that the airport receives a federal subsidy of $1.7 million anually. It has 2300 departing passengers boardings * a year. Assuming they also came by plane, this works out to about a subsidy of about $369 per passenger.    Thank you, US taxpayer.    [boardings I assumed meant airplanes boarded; if it is passengers boarded, and every flight is full, then the subsidy is divided by 8, or $46/per passenger. Still worth a thankyou. ]

The end of the runway offers a fine view:

 

 The airport is a few minutes more than one hour away, by car, including the border crossing at Prescott (head south on 416, keep on going over the river instead of turning onto the 401).  

Do it again?

Yeah, probably.

Provided you like the ride in small planes and riding the updrafts as you go over the mountains. As I said: an experience.