We redeemed miles for a ticket for our sister-in-law to come AHN-PIT in March. A few weeks ago, she called to say she had read in the local paper that Mesa/USExpress was pulling service from there. However, I checked the timetables and it is still up for the foreseeable future.

It seems the DOT has an 'Essential Air Service Program' to maintain service at small regional airports (like AHN) - thus they can not lose their only carrier. In fact, DOT will subsidize Mesa to continue service 'until a new carrier can be found'.

What are the requirements of this program? How small is small? This creates an interesting game where you might (or might not) want to be the last carrier standing in an airport. Are other US airports having these issues?