The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has tentatively terminated Essential Air Service (EAS) availability for 21 communities around the country due to either too low passenger numbers or too high per passenger subsidy, or both.

The specific dates for the termination of the EAS availability will be determined once the order is confirmed, subject to all objections and requests for waivers.

The DOT has found that each of Hagerstown, MD, Franklin Venango Regional, PA, Pueblo, CO, and Victoria, TX have both exceeded the federally prescribed cap of USD200 subsidy per passenger and have not reached the required 10 enplanements per day in Fiscal Year 2017.

According to the ch-aviation capacity module, Hagerstown and Franklin are currently served under EAS contracts by Southern Airways Express, Pueblo - by SkyWest Airlines operating as United Express (United Airlines's regional brand), and Victoria by Public Charters under the Texas Sky brand. All four communities have already petitioned the DOT for a waiver.

The DOT also established that a further 17 airports, despite exceeding the 10-enplanements-threshold, have nonetheless also exceeded the USD200 subsidy cap. Consequently, the EAS availability has been tentatively terminated at:

The DOT also tentatively granted waivers to a further four communities, namely Kearney, NE, Macon Regional, GA, Pendleton, OR, and Scottsbluff, NE, which all experienced a service hiatus in Fiscal Year 2017 which distorted the calculation of the average number of enplanements and the average per passenger subsidy.