The Pendleton Airport has the only essential air service flight in the Pacific Northwest. A thrice-daily 55-minute flight between Pendleton and Portland. (Sep 2, 2025)
Lillian Karabaic / OPB
The federal government program used to subsidize commercial flights in Pendleton got a last-minute reprieve from grinding to a halt due to the partial government shutdown. But immediate answers on how that might affect Eastern Oregon’s only commercial airport are in short supply.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy had announced Sunday that the Essential Air Service program was set to run out of money, potentially affecting dozens of rural airports that rely on the program to offer commercial flights. But a Wednesday update from the U.S. Department of Transportation states the agency has since “secured” $41 million to keep the program running until early November.
The municipally operated Eastern Oregon Regional Airport in Pendleton holds the only EAS contract in the state. Pendleton’s airline provider is the San Francisco-based Boutique Air, which offers daily flights from Pendleton to Portland.
EAS potentially running out of money was news to Pendleton airport manager Dan Bandel, but after learning about the funding extension Wednesday afternoon, he deferred questions about the short-term future of commercial flights to Boutique. Boutique did not respond to a request for comment.
In a statement made before the department’s funding announcement, U.S. Sen Ron Wyden blamed the Trump administration for putting EAS at risk.
“This is one more painful example of the needless and significant damage inflicted on rural Oregon from this Trump shutdown,” he said. “This Trump shutdown is unfortunately aided and abetted by congressional Republicans all too willing to drag their constituents off an economic cliff rather than talk with Democrats. You can’t have a big-league rural economy without big-league investments like essential air service out of Pendleton for families and small businesses in Eastern Oregon.”
Oregon’s other Democratic senator, Jeff Merkley, echoed Wyden, saying that the crisis was created by Republicans’ refusal to fix their recently passed budget bill.
“This includes critical federal support for air service at Pendleton Airport, which keeps local businesses connected to economic opportunities in Oregon and across the world,” Merkley said. “While Republicans would rather win political games than secure wins for working families, my focus remains on rural communities getting the resources they deserve.”
The federal government partially shut down on Oct. 1 after Congress failed to come to a funding agreement. Democrats are trying to negotiate an extension to tax credits for the Affordable Care Act, but Republicans say reopening the government should be the priority and health care credits can be discussed later.
Duffy used the funding extension announcement to attack Democrats and their congressional leaders, saying they were putting “illegal immigrants” over the needs of “rural neighborhoods.”
Republican Rep. Cliff Bentz, who represents Pendleton in the U.S. House of Representatives, did not return requests for comment.
This isn’t the first time Pendleton’s EAS subsidy has been threatened.
Essential Air Service was created in 1978 in the wake of the federal government deregulating the airline industry. As the government took a step back from directly overseeing routes, schedules and fares, EAS ensured that rural communities would continue to receive service through federally funded subsidies.
The federal government threatened to strip that subsidy in 2016 due to low passenger numbers before eventually issuing a waiver after the city switched its provider to Boutique. The entire EAS program was under threat again in 2017 when the Trump administration wanted it defunded. Congress kept it afloat with the support of Pendleton city officials.
Pendleton’s current EAS subsidy is $4.3 million per year. The next closest commercial airports to Pendleton are in Walla Walla and Tri-Cities, Washington, although neither offer direct flights to Portland.
