The proposed budget of the United States, presented in abridged form today by the White House, would eliminate the Department of Transportation’s Essential Air Service (EAS) program, reports The New York Times. EAS currently provides the only form of commercial air transportation to 60 communities in Alaska and 115 communities in the lower 48 states, according to the Department of Transportation.
The program has been in effect since 1978 when the airline industry in the United States was first deregulated. In addition to the communities affected, many small regional airlines, such as Boutique Air and Great Lakes, are heavily dependent on EAS programs
Image shows counties served by airports subsidized under the EAS program.
Image Credit: Protonk, available through Creative Commons License
