There is one reason and one reason only to undertake any further study of commercial air service at the Chautauqua County Airport in Jamestown — and it’s not to put an end to a local debate over whether or not the service is needed.

The only reason to do a study is if the county were to attract an air carrier serious enough to actually garner approval from the federal government. That hasn’t happened in the recent past, and should be a prerequisite to spending any further county money chasing the siren’s song of commercial air service at the airport.

We admit that having air service should be a benefit to tourism efforts undertaken by Chautauqua Institution, the National Comedy Center and even smaller attractions like the Robert H. Jackson Center. Having an airport lends an air of big city panache when dealing with big business instead of the back country rubes who have to travel to Buffalo, Erie or Cleveland to pick up those coming in for big events.

While some are really itching to bring air service back, we ask to what end? Securing an Essential Air Service contract — which is no small task, by the way — is only half the battle. Generating interest from a community that has been burned by bad providers and bad timing with a pilot shortage in the past is a lengthy project in its own right, and every day the Jamestown airport has no commerrcial air service is just another day that travel habits for county residents become more entrenched. That’s a lot to overcome even if the federal government granted an Essential Air Service designation.

And, the county’s struggles to meet the federal government’s requirements of 10 passengers a day or the federal government’s $200 per rider susidy cap have already been the deciding factor in the county’s denial of two proposals restoring air service because they were deemed too overly optimistic and costly for a federal government that throws money around like a college senior on spring break.

Restoring commercial air service to the Jamestown airport is like a mirage in the desert — you think a nice, cold glass of water is just over the next dune, but all you ever end up drinking is a nice hot glass of sand.