TUPELO – Flights from Tupelo Regional Airport to Nashville Tennessee and Dallas Texas will continue for at least another month, despite funding concerns amid the federal government shutdown.
Tupelo’s air service to both cities is provided by Contour Airlines through the Department of Transportation’s Essential Air Service program, which subsidizes flights from small communities to larger airport hubs.
The program came under threat amid the shutdown that began Oct. 1, after Congress failed to pass appropriations legislation for Fiscal Year 2026.
Golden Triangle Regional Airport does not receive funding through the EAS program, Executive Director Matt Dowell told The Dispatch, so it remains unaffected.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said during a press conference Monday that EAS subsidies were expected to run out as soon as Sunday if the shutdown continued.
“That money runs out this Sunday, so there’s many small communities across the country that will now no longer have the resources to make sure they have air service in their community,” Duffy said. “… Every state across the country will be impacted by the inability to provide the subsidies to airlines to service these communities. … We don’t have the money for that moving forward.”
However, the department issued a statement Wednesday indicating that temporary funding had been secured to continue the program through Nov. 2, if the lapse in appropriations continues.
Tupelo Regional Airport Executive Director Brandon Pannell told The Dispatch Wednesday that service to both Dallas and Nashville is continuing for now, though he’s unsure if that will be the case if funding runs dry in November.
“I do not have an idea at this moment,” he said. “… As of right now, we’re not going to be affected.”
Pannell said demand for the two routes remains strong, with both flights averaging about 25 passengers per trip each day.
Contour Airlines did not respond to requests for comment by press time on Wednesday.
Tupelo participates in the Alternate Essential Air Service program, a version of EAS that provides communities with a direct grant rather than paying airlines per-flight subsidies. Tupelo Regional Airport entered into a four-year agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation in October 2024 to provide flights to both Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Nashville International Airport, operated by Contour Airlines using a 30-seat jet.
Under the agreement, the airport received nearly $7 million in Fiscal Year 2024 and was expected to receive about $7.2 million in FY 2025.
Nationwide, the EAS program received $587.2 million in FY 2025, funded through a combination of $164.2 million in overflight fees collected by the Federal Aviation Administration and $423 million in discretionary appropriations from Congress.
President Donald Trump in his discretionary budget, proposed slashing the program’s budget by $308 million.
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