The U.S. Department of Transportation announced a plan to\naddress the impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health\nemergency on air carriers participating in the Essential Air Service (EAS)\nprogram. The Department issued a Notice\nto all EAS air carriers indicating how those carriers may adjust their\nschedules and seek compensation due to the significant reduction in passenger\ndemand and the financial impact on air carriers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Department\u2019s plan authorizes payment of 50 percent of\nthe contracted per-flight subsidy for flights that are not operated, so long as\nan EAS air carrier serving a community in the continental United States, Hawaii,\nand Puerto Rico completes at least one round trip flight a day, six days a\nweek, for that EAS community, and an EAS air carrier serving a community in\nAlaska completes at least 50 percent of its weekly schedule for that EAS\ncommunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, the Department will not initiate enforcement\naction against EAS air carriers for failing to comply with the statutory\nlevel-of-service requirements in situations where the noncompliance takes place\nduring the effective period of the notice, the significant reduction in\npassenger demand due to the COVID-19 public health emergency was the cause of\nthe noncompliance, the EAS air carrier complies with the level-of-service\nrequirements provided in the Notice, and the eligible communities do not object\nto the change in service levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plan applies to all 160 communities in the United States\nand Puerto Rico that receive EAS subsidized service, but it does not apply to\nthe 8 communities receiving Alternate EAS grants. This action is retroactive to March 1, 2020,\nand will be in effect through June 30, 2020. \nA community that objects to the service levels in the notice should\nsubmit a statement to the community\u2019s EAS docket, and the Department will work\nwith the community and EAS air carrier to address such objections on a\ncase-by-case basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n