Federal subsidies for rural air travel will continue through at least mid-November despite the government shutdown, according to a notice sent to airlines on Wednesday. The Transportation Department told air carriers it has found enough funding to continue paying Essential Air Service subsidies through Nov. 18.
The department previously said it had enough funding to continue the program through Nov. 2.
“While the lapse in Congressionally appropriated funding continues, the Department has been able to secure additional budgetary resources to maintain program operations longer than expected at the time the Department issued its previous notice on October 8th,” Transportation Department official Daniel Edwards wrote in a bulletin to airlines.
Essential Air Service subsidies are meant to ensure airlines serve small, rural communities, even if flights aren’t necessarily profitable. They provide nearly $600 million each year to support more than 170 routes across the country. More than a third of them are in Alaska.
Some airlines that fly subsidized routes in Alaska said earlier this month that they would continue service even if funding temporarily ran dry. But they stressed the subsidies are vital to their ability to fly those routes on an ongoing basis.
The shutdown has stretched to nearly a month and is now the second-longest in U.S. history. Republicans and Democrats have yet to come to an agreement to end it.
Though the federal government has so far been able to keep Essential Air Service funded, the Trump administration has declined to provide alternative sources of funding for some other programs. Funding for the much larger Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is set to run out on Saturday. Some Democratic-led states have sued to force the Agriculture Department to continue paying SNAP benefits using emergency funds.
Alaska Desk reporter Avery Ellfeldt contributed reporting from Haines.
