VENANGO CO., Pa. (EYT) — Venango County received word on Friday afternoon that daily commercial flights from Franklin to Pittsburgh will be discontinued next week.

An order issued in August by the U.S. Department of Transportation advised that it planned to terminate the Essential Air Service (EAS) subsidy for the Venango Regional Airport as of October 18.

Venango County appealed the decision; however, Vince Witherup confirmed to exploreVenango.com that the County was notified on Friday that the appeal was denied.

EAS is a federal program launched in 1978 to allow small communities to be able to maintain commercial service after airline deregulation went into effect.

Without EAS subsidies, many smaller regional airports, like Venango Regional, are unable to support commercial flights.

However, to be eligible to be a part of the EAS subsidy program, airports are required to meet or work on efforts to increase passenger numbers of a minimum 10 per day and keep the subsidy to $200.00 per passenger or less, unless the airport is located more than 175 miles from the nearest large or medium hub airport.

Based on numbers from 2018, Venango Regional Airport averaged just 5.2 passengers per day at an average subsidy of $480.00 per passenger, and it is located just 85 miles away from the Pittsburgh International Airport.

In an interview on Thursday, Witherup was still hopeful that the waiver would be rescinded. He stated that they “were denied a waiver under the EAS program” and that they appealed the decision through everyone that they could; however, it was under review.

The Venango County Commissioners aren’t the only officials who are pushing back against the ruling.

U.S. Representative Glenn “GT” Thompson told exploreVenango.com on Thursday that two weeks ago he was “fortunate to sit down with Joel Szabat, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Acting Undersecretary for Policy.”

Szabat manages the Essential Air Service and Small Community Air Service Development grant programs for the federal government.

The purpose of the meeting was to assess the process that was used to make a determination to end Venango Regional Airport’s participation in the EAS program that was communicated to the county back in August.

Thompson said that ending program eligibility would undoubtedly bring commercial air service to a halt.

“As a strong proponent for keeping our region connected to the national transportation system, I made the case that the airport is an economic engine for the county, and airport utilization is better this year than the previous.”