LEBANON, N.H. (AP) _ The manager of the Lebanon Municipal Airport is confident that discounted airline tickets will help to draw more customers for the airport to keep its operating subsidy.

So far this year, the airport has seen an 11.4 percent drop in the number of passengers flying out of Lebanon.

Airport manager Rick Dyment tells the Valley News (http://bit.ly/1Gq0DVp ) that storms in the beginning of the year contributed to decline. But he thinks that Cape Air’s discounted fares through mid-July will help to boost the number of passengers by the end of the year.

He says if the airport doesn’t reach the target of 10,000 people taking off from Lebanon this year, its annual subsidy through the federal Essential Air Service program would drop from $1 million to $150,000 in 2017.