U.S. Essential Air Service

In mid-July 2022, the Department of Transportation posted a document selecting Sun Country as the airline that will serve the Essential Air Service of Eau Claire in Wisconsin. When the DOT decision was made it was a shock to most as there has never been an aircraft this large operating an EAS route within the […]

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines has made it through the pandemic without starting a single tag route. Other airlines such as United, American, Alaska, and others combined destinations into a single flight to save costs during the pandemic due to severely light passenger loads. SkyWest under the United Express banner combined many smaller EAS communities into […]

Essential Air Service (EAS), the government-funded program providing air service to small communities around the U.S., has been in the newS a lot recently. With new contracts being selected almost every month around the country, and SkyWest requesting to terminate more than 30 of these contracts, it is a very confusing time for the program […]

Denver Air Connection — more commonly known as DAC — is a Colorado-based airline that has pushed a rapid expansion  over the past two years and is showing no signs of slowing down. The carrier has announced two new destinations, both of which are located in the carrier’s home state and are part of the […]

SkyWest recently requested the termination of 31 Essential Air Service (EAS) contracts, and the process of refilling those contracts has reached the stage airlines submit proposals to the Department of Transportation, and community and industry members can comment on them. The proposals were originally due on April 11i, but the due date was extended to May 11, […]

Palm Beach, Fla.-based Southern Airways Express has been growing immensely since its founding in 2013, with its most recent rapid growth being only two months ago in March of 2022 when it acquired Air Choice One. This recent news will be its sixth merger or acquisition as it was announced today in a company memo […]

The U.S. Essential Air Service has seen some strain recently as three airlines — the most recent carrier being Cape Air — requested to terminate at least two of their contracts before they were due to expire. As a result, the government has been forced to look for other operators to fill those voids. It began […]

The Essential Air Service – or EAS – communities have been taking a major hit over the past eight months. First Boutique Air requested to terminate Jackson, Tenn. followed by Show Low, Ariz. Altoona, Penn., and Pendleton, Oregon, although the latter three were just so the carrier could get a higher subsidy and is in […]

Essential Air Service (EAS) has been in the news frequently for the past couple of months, and large airports aren’t the only airports that have news to report on. This is a continuation of the series, titled ‘EAS Round up’, and will touch on any news regarding the contracts in the EAS airport community since […]

Plattsburgh and Ogdensburg, two airports in northern New York state, have been in aviation news a substantial amount in the past three months. Both are Essential Air Service cities, and in mid-January 2022, SkyWest announced it would be terminating service to these communities in 90 days, a proposal that was swiftly rejected by the DOT until […]