While most airlines judge which flights to increase and which to retire permanently by how many passengers take them, certain routes between rural communities that would otherwise not be profitable enough from a business standpoint are subsidized by the federal government.
The Essential Air Service (EAS) was established in 1978 and is administered by the Department of Transportation to serve rural and isolated communities that would otherwise be cut off from the rest of the country. The Small Community Air Service Development Program similarly provides airlines with contracts to fly to smaller regional airports.
One beneficiary of the SCASDP program is Safford Regional Airport in Arizona’s Graham County. With a population of just over 40,000 residents, Graham County is spread across a territory of desert plains and is among the least-populated in the state. The county is also home to numerous Native American communities living on their ancestral lands.
“We hope we’ll find a new funding source”: Safford Regional Airport
The first flight to Safford Regional Airport was launched by Frontier Airlines (ULCC) as a stop between Phoenix and El Paso in 1950, while different regional airlines have tried the odd direct flight over the decades.
In 2025, Grand Canyon Scenic Airlines received an SCASDP contract to run a flight from Safford Regional to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX).
Earlier this month, the Boulder City-based airline announced that the allocated funding had run out just nine months after the 144-mile flight was launched and that the airline would stop running it by September 14.
Related: Regional airline exits Midwestern airport, cancels all flights
“Ultimately, we couldn’t stretch the funding far enough,” Safford Regional Airport Manager Cameron Atkins said to local newspaper The Arizona Republic. “Hopefully, this won’t be the end of airline service in Safford. We hope we’ll find a new funding source.”
The airline sold off seats on the flight for the discounted price of $49 each way on weekends and said that it would contact anyone who had booked travel beyond the cancellation date for a refund.
Safford Regional Airport is located in a remote part of the Arizona desert.
Image source: Shutterstock
Travelers with booked flights to receive refunds, locals left to look for alternative transportation
“Grand Canyon Airlines will reach out and arrange for the refund over the next few days,” the carrier confirmed to a traveler who asked what would happen to those with booked flights underneath the Facebook post on the axed route.
Both the airport and the city expressed further hopes that a new funding source will appear so that the flight could continue running.
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“Especially in a rural community, having reliable service is a big thing that will make or break your service,” Atkins said further to the Arizona Republic.
The City of Safford also said in a statement that it “has enjoyed an amazing relationship with Grand Canyon Scenic Airlines and looks forward to the opportunity to re-initiate service if funding becomes available through the State of Arizona or another grant funding source.”
With the last commercial flight out of Safford Regional now cut, the airport will serve only select charter and medical flights.
Residents of the area who need to fly will for the time being need to make the three-and-a-half-hour drive to PHX; the highway is laid in a way that takes motorists across 240 miles instead of the lessened 144-mile route that could be made by plane.
Albuquerque International Airport (ABQ) is similarly 230 miles away.
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