The U.S. Department of Transportation has ruled against a western New York county that was seeking to rejoin the Essential Air Service program after a roughly eight-year pause.
In May 2025, Chautauqua County and Southern Airways Express submitted a joint proposal for the restoration of EAS-subsidized service at Chautauqua County/Jamestown Airport, located in Jamestown, New York. The county and the airline proposed adding 12 or 17 weekly round trip flights to Washington Dulles, using nine-seat Cessna C-208B Grand Caravan EX single-engine turboprop aircraft.
Southern Airways Express previously served Jamestown until 2018, when the DOT formally ended EAS support after determining that the airport no longer qualified for the program. Critically, the airport failed to maintain an average of 10 enplanements per service day, dipping to 5.3 in fiscal year 2015.
The 10-enplanement standard is waived for certain communities, including those located more than 175 driving miles from the nearest large or medium hub airport. Jamestown, however, is less than 175 miles from Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
In its final decision, the DOT said there is no evidence that local demand has grown since air service was terminated eight years ago. Chautauqua County and Southern Airways’ proposal forecasts annual passenger volumes not seen at Jamestown since 2013 and, prior to that, 2006, the department said.
It is also doubtful that Southern Airways could grow demand once operations are up and running, officials added.
“Southern was the air carrier that was serving the Jamestown community at the time when it had load factors of only 20%,” the DOT’s ruling states. “Therefore, the department cannot find that the joint proposal is likely to result in the significant enplanement increase needed to generate 10 enplanements per service day at Jamestown.”
Southern Airways Express operates mostly EAS-subsidized routes. Prior to 2018, it connected Jamestown with Pittsburgh.
