Williamsport Regional Airport in Pennsylvania is without a commercial service provider this week following the abrupt withdrawal of Southern Airways Express.
The commuter airline confirmed to AirlineGeeks that it suspended service at Williamsport on Saturday over “outstanding payment issues.” The carrier formerly connected Williamsport with Washington Dulles.
Southern Airways Express said it recognizes the “disruption and uncertainty” created for residents of Williamsport, Lycoming County, and the surrounding region, but added that it ultimately ran out of options.
“Despite good-faith efforts over many months, including making the deliberate choice to operate every scheduled flight while working closely with the Williamsport Municipal Airport Authority to resolve their outstanding payment issues, Southern Airways Express suspended scheduled service between Williamsport Regional Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport effective August 1, 2026,” a spokesperson for the airline said. “This is a decision we did not want to make. Our immediate focus is caring for affected passengers.”
All customers whose flights were canceled will receive full refunds. Southern Airways Express said it will work directly with customers who need alternate transportation.
The Williamsport Municipal Airport Authority did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AirlineGeeks on Monday.
According to Southern Airways Express, the connection to Dulles was set up with a U.S. Department of Transportation Small Community Air Service Development Program (SCASDP) grant, which funded a minimum revenue guarantee for the airline. Under the agreement, the airport authority paid the difference between Southern Airways Express’ operating costs and passenger ticket revenue collected each month.
In February, the airport authority advised Southern Airways Express that federal and state reimbursements were taking longer than usual, and invoices went unpaid. The airline said it gave the airport authority extensions and continued to operate its scheduled service, believing that the issue would be resolved. As time went on, however, payment remained paused, and there were periods when the airport authority was unresponsive to emails, phone calls, and other forms of outreach, Southern Airways Express said. When the agency did communicate, it gave repeated assurances that payment was coming soon.
As recently as July 30, the airline said, the airport authority advised that a payment would be made on July 31. When that date came, however, the airport authority changed its story and said the payment could not be made.
It was not immediately clear what caused the problem with the SCASDP reimbursement.
