The U.S. Department of Transportation has secured an additional $111 million in funding for the Essential Air Service program, the agency announced.
Because of the U.S. government shutdown, which started on Oct. 1, the EAS program initially was set to run out of money by Oct. 12. DOT on Oct. 9 secured $41 million to keep the service afloat through early November.
EAS serves rural communities with subsidies to airlines to operate routes that typically are not profitable. Alaska is one of the largest benefactors of the program.
Airline CEOs and other executives last week attended a roundtable with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and DOT Secretary Sean Duffy to discuss the effect of the shutdown on the country's transportation system. The government's shutdown effect on travel accelerated this past weekend.
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