PROVINCETOWN, MASSACHUSETTS — Provincetown voters in April 2026 rejected a ballot measure that would have provided Cape Air a $332,000 minimum revenue guarantee subsidy, funded through a property tax increase, to restore year-round passenger flights at Provincetown Municipal Airport. Cape Air, the sole airline serving the airport, halted year-round service to and from Boston two winters earlier, citing unprofitability after operating the route for more than three decades.

Commercial flights are not available at the airport from fall until spring, leaving only private planes operating during the off-season. Provincetown's population swings from about 3,500 year-round residents to roughly 60,000 in summer. The 120-mile drive from Provincetown to Boston can take Joe Castellana, a local resident, several hours, particularly during the summer months.

The Finance Committee recommended against the subsidy, citing the use of property taxes to fund it and noting that only Provincetown residents would pay while residents of surrounding towns would also use the flights. Attracting commercial air service often requires subsidies at the local, state, or federal level.

"I didn't think the taxpayer should have that burden. If I want to start a business, maybe there are some loans I can get, but I don't go ask the taxpayers to fund my business so I can make a living, you know?" said Catherine Skowron, a former long-time Provincetown resident.

Christine Barker, a local real estate developer, voted for the measure and said off-season flights could help the town build a year-round tourism economy and create jobs. "Not having continuous air service is disastrous because it's just too hard to get here. Without an airline to bring people in, people are not going to come in here in the off-season for a weekend from New York or Connecticut or Washington or New Jersey," Barker said.

Provincetown Town Manager Alex Morse also voted for the subsidy. "It's never good to lose a key part of your infrastructure and it becomes more difficult for people to call this place home year-round when you have less and less connectivity to the rest of the country," Morse said.

Flight routes to remote areas often lose money for airlines because of low and erratic passenger demand. The federal Essential Air Service program pays airlines to operate in small, rural communities, and the Trump administration proposed cutting that program's budget by half.

More than three-quarters of U.S. airports have reduced their number of flights in recent years, and more than a dozen have lost commercial air service entirely, according to the Regional Airline Association. The association attributes the decline to reduced passenger demand during the pandemic, a pilot shortage, and increased fuel, labor, and maintenance costs, and describes the trend as an "air service crisis" that risks becoming an "air service collapse."