KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – Knoxville’s airport may soon offer a less expensive option for travelers headed to the nation’s capital.

On Thursday the Department of Transportation awarded the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority a $500,000 grant to help lure a lost-fare airline into opening a route between McGhee Tyson Airport and one of the three major airports in the Washington DC-Baltimore area.

The MKAA was one of 84 airport authorities that applied for the Small Community Air Service Development Grant last year. Only 19 of them received it.

“The Small Community Air Service Development Grant Program is highly Competitive, with many worthy communities submitting proposals,” said Kirk Huddleston, Chairman of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority Board of Commissioners in a news release. “Without the support of our leaders in Washington, the State of Tennessee, our regional leaders and partners, this grant award would not have been possible.”

More travelers fly to DC-area airports from McGhee Tyson than any other destination the Knoxville airport offers flights to. Unfortunately those flights are expensive. According to the USDOT’s Office of Aviation Analysis, the average fare between Knoxville and DC is $305. US Air handles 74 percent of the passengers flying between the two regions, with ticket prices averaging $334.

A low-cost carrier hasn’t flown the route since Independence Air ceased operations in early 2006. The DC-based airline’s round trip fares between Knoxville and DC were more than half the current average rate.

A number of low-fare airlines already operate flights out of Washington Dulles International Airport, Ronald Reagan National Airport, and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. They include JetBlue, AirTran, Spirit, Frontier and Southwest.

You can learn more about attempts to get another low-fare airline in Knoxville by clicking on the link below.