The Trump administration said on Monday that funds from a U.S. government program that subsidizes commercial air service to rural airports are set to expire as soon as Sunday because of an ongoing partial government shutdown.
The U.S. Transportation Department said the subsidies in the Essential Air Service program are expected to expire as soon as Sunday after the department transferred unrelated funding from the Federal Aviation Administration as an advance. The department is in the process of notifying carriers of the shortfall and alerting communities of the potential impacts.
The government has about $350 million in annual funding.
In May, the White House proposed cutting funding by $308 million for Essential Air Service, which is popular with Republican lawmakers because it provid