Trump Budget Grounds Air Service Program for Rural Areas

Here's something you might not know: your taxpayer dollars fund a program that makes it possible for airlines to continue flights to smaller, rural airports. The Essential Air Service program, or EAS, is meant to link people in more isolated communities to locations across the U.S. and the world, as well as help those communities attract jobs and industry to their areas.

The program costs $175 million in federal funds -- all of which are slashed in President Trump's current budget proposal.

Now, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is hoping to protect rural air service from that funding cut. Nine senators, led by Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE), submitted a letter to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao seeking her support in protecting the EAS program.

In their letter, lawmakers argued that, "EAS provides critical support for rural communities across America, keeping our communities connected to friends, family, and the regional and global marketplace...A reduction in support could lead to a reduction in services and ultimately in jobs for rural America."

Critics argue that the federal government is paying to fly empty planes to and from airports, many of which are driving-distance to mid-sized airport hubs.

On its website, the Department of Transportation (DOT) explains the history and mission of the Essential Air Service:

"The Airline Deregulation Act (ADA), passed in 1978, gave air carriers almost total freedom to determine which markets to serve domestically and what fares to charge for that service. The Essential Air Service (EAS) program was put into place to guarantee that small communities that were served by certificated air carriers before airline deregulation maintain a minimal level of scheduled air service.”

Through the EAS the federal government provides subsidies per passenger to allow for regular flights to and from 60 communities in Alaska, another 115 in the lower contiguous 48 states and 2 in Hawaii. Without the subsidies, the DOT states that these communities "would not receive any scheduled air service."

Congress is currently in negotiations over the reauthorization of the Federal Aviation administration, or FAA, and its upcoming budget. So lawmakers will be intensely discussing the fate of the Essential Air Service program in coming weeks, as well as President Trump's proposed privatization of federal air traffic control.

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— Asha Sanaker

(Photo Credit: Wikimedia / Creative Commons)