The U.S. Department of Transportation has ruled against a western New York county that was seeking to rejoin the Essential Air Service program after a roughly eight-year pause.
In May 2025, Chautauqua County and Southern Airways Express submitted a joint proposal for the restoration of EAS-subsidized service at Chautauqua County/Jamestown Airport, located in Jamestown, New York. The county and the airline proposed adding 12 or 17 weekly round trip flights to Washington Dulles, using nine-seat Cessna C-208B Grand Caravan EX single-engine turboprop aircraft.
Southern Airways Express previously served Jamestown until 2018, when the DOT formally ended EAS support after determining that the airport no longer qualified for the program. Critically, the airport failed to maintain an average of 10 enplanements per service day, dipping to 5.3 in fiscal year 2015…