Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that rural and small communities will see cuts to the federal subsidies supporting their airline services as soon as Sunday if the government shutdown continues.
The Transportation Department gives subsidies to airlines through the Essential Air Service program to guarantee they provide commercial service to smaller communities throughout the United States. Duffy said the money that funds these subsidies runs out on Sunday.
“There’s many small communities across the country that will now no longer have the resources to make sure they have air service in their communities,” Duffy said.
Congress gave these airline subsidies a bipartisan boost when it passed the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act in 2024. When the government shut down on Wednesday, the Transportation Department initiated a transfer of funds from the FAA as an advance to keep the program running until Sunday. But after Sunday, the funding for the program will lapse.
“Thanks to Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries holding the federal government hostage, USDOT is forced to look at all its programs and determine what funding is available to keep critical government services online,” a DOT spokesperson said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “Due to the lapse, Essential Air Service subsidies are expected to expire as soon as Sunday. USDOT exhausted every resource in trying to prolong an EAS shortfall, including transferring unrelated funding from the FAA as an advance.”
Duffy said Alaska is the number one recipient of these subsidies, but the funding lapse will affect all 50 states.
The department has contracted with many smaller air lines, including Southern, SkyWest, Cape Air, and JetBlue, to provide service to these communities, according to an October 2024 report.
Duffy made the announcement on Monday during a press conference on how the federal government shutdown is affecting the Department of Transportation and its workers. He also noted that the support staff at air traffic controller training facilities are at risk of being furloughed if the government shutdown continues.
The secretary also said he spoke with air traffic controllers from Newark Liberty International Airport, where the control system blackouts occurred earlier this year, and said that many are stressed about their next paycheck coming and considering taking on second jobs if the shutdown continues.
“In a job that’s already stressful, this shutdown has put way more stress on our controllers at a time when they’re already working on equipment from the 1960s, 1980s, 1990s,” Duffy said.
NEWARK AIRPORT COMMUNICATIONS MELTDOWN RENEWS DEMANDS FOR FAA SLOT CONTROLS
He emphasized, however, that the airspace is still safe and that “If we think there’s issues in the airspace, we will shut it down,” Duffy said.
Nick Daniels, the President of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, joined Duffy in Newark on Monday to advocate an end to the shutdown.
