Up in the Air

Senator Olympia Snowe is petitioning a proposed rule change to the federal Essential Air Service (EAS) program—a program that subsidizes air travel to remote regions around the United States. As it stands, any airline that accepts EAS money must provide a plane that carries at least fifteen passengers. The proposed change would waive that requirement. Snowe believes that this would severely impact the region, and is urging the U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to wait for the completion of a market study of the Northern Maine airport before putting the rule into effect. More on the rule change and its effects at the Bangor Daily News [1]

Meanwhile, two months ago Colgan Air put forward a petition [2] to the DOT to end its service to Aroostook. While the county won't be without air service thanks to programs such as the EAS exactly who or what will the void is not entirely clear.