The federal Essential Air Service program, which connects four Maine communities to domestic and international air travel, could lose funding as the government shutdown in Washington churns on.
Passenger flights at Presque Isle International Airport, Augusta State Airport, Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport and Knox County Regional Airport in Owls Head are supported by the program, which provides federal subsidies to air carriers to serve smaller areas.
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Wednesday that it had secured $41 million to keep the program running through early November, preventing a funding lapse that could have affected service to the country’s nearly 180 EAS airports as soon as Sunday.
But there’s no end in sight for the shutdown, which began on Oct. 1 and entered its 10th day Friday. The last federal government shutdown, which ran for 35 days from December 2018 into January 2019, was the longest in history.
A similar length for this shutdown would push it into November, right to the brink of available EAS funding. That could affect service for the more than 4,000 passengers a month, on average, that fly out of Maine’s four EAS airports, according to the most recent annual Federal Aviation Administration data.
“Every state across the country will be impacted by the inability to provide the subsidies to airlines to service these communities,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters at a press conference at Newark Liberty International Airport on Monday, before his department secured additional funding.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Essential Air Service was created by Congress in 1978 after airline deregulation to ensure service for smaller communities. The program pays subsidies to air carriers to serve those areas.
But no airport in the country benefits from more EAS subsidy funding than Presque Isle International, according to U.S. DOT data.
The DOT is compensating JetBlue, which operates once-daily round-trip flights to Boston from the airport, at an annual subsidy rate of more than $11.2 million in the second year of a two-year contract with the airline that began in September 2024.
Cape Air, the air carrier for Maine’s other three EAS airports, receives $3.2 million to $3.7 million in annual subsidies from the DOT to serve each airport.
Despite the ongoing government shutdown, Presque Isle Airport Director Scott Wardwell said Friday he was not concerned about the city’s air service being affected by a federal funding lapse.
“We are very encouraged with the level of support that all the stakeholders in the Essential Air Service program have provided,” Wardwell said. “This support was exhibited by the extension of full funding of the program through Nov. 2.”
In fact, there have been several government shutdowns in past years, but none have resulted in an interruption in Presque Isle’s air service, he said.
“I have a flight scheduled on JetBlue out of PQI on Oct. 31 and returning Nov. 7,” Wardwell added. “I have every expectation that I will be able to take those flights without issue.”
Knox County Regional Airport Manager Jacob Johnson shared that sentiment. He is not concerned about Essential Air Service funding throughout the duration of the shutdown, he said Friday.
“I’ve spoken with multiple representatives of Cape Air, and they’ve assured me that they plan to continue operating their regular schedule here at Knox County Regional Airport,” Johnson said. “That would only change if EAS funding were to come to a permanent halt, but we don’t see that as a likely outcome.”
In May, The White House proposed cutting more than half of the funding for the EAS program by tightening eligibility requirements.
During President Donald Trump’s first term, he attempted to eliminate Essential Air Service altogether. Part of a 2017 budget proposal reads “EAS flights are not full and have high subsidy costs per passenger.”
Officials at Augusta State Airport and Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
