Imagine the conundrum faced by North Central Regional Airport in West Virginia. They need to exceed a whopping 27 passengers per day in order to be eligible for a federal grant program. But they aren’t hitting their numbers. (Presumably the airport is employing more staff than passengers…) What do you do?

Fudge your numbers, of course! Charter a plane and give away free flights — get local residents to take off, circle around the town, and land. Apparently it’s worth the money to the airport authority:

“Hopefully we achieve the numbers necessary for the 10,000 passengers that we’re looking for. That’s the difference in a $150,000 to $1,000,000.” said Ron Watson, president of the Benedum Airport Authority.

(Hat tip to Chris,)