Regular flights from Plattsburgh to Boston might come to an end this summer.

PenAir has operated the service for the last six years, thanks to a federal program that subsidizes flights to and from smaller airports. But last month, Clinton County said the funding should go to a new airline that flies to Washington, D.C. instead.

About 25 people work at PenAir and they're worried they'll lose their jobs because of the change.

Every couple of years the Clinton County legislature reconsiders which airline should get that federal rural air service funding, called Essential Air Service. Last month the legislators settled on a new airline: SkyWest.

Robert Hall chairs the county’s airport committee. He said residents have been saying the service to Washington, D.C. would be better. “For the last four years, we have had numerous people contact us – all the legislators, not just the airport committee – asking us to get a flight out of Plattsburgh with a better destination where they could connect to another airline or the same airline and go to a major hub. And PenAir has not been able to do that,” Hall said.

Another problem, he said, was that travelers were having a hard time making their connecting flights in Boston. The county asked PenAir to change its schedule, “and they wouldn’t even do that,” Hall said.

PenAir said it was surprised with the county’s decision. Spokesman Michael Walsh said they were working to fix the schedule, and that the airline has a lot of repeat customers who rely on the Boston service. “We transport a lot of customers that are coming down for medical needs, a lot of students that are from the Boston area, as well as businessmen,” Walsh said.

PenAir also has 25 mechanics and airport staff in Plattsburgh who now fear for their jobs. Walsh said he worries SkyWest wouldn’t hire locally. “We may get a small percentage of our employees that would get absorbed onto their staff. But the real part is our mechanics there. They will not have an opportunity to continue working on aircraft in Plattsburgh,” he said.

But county legislator Robert Hall disagrees. “I do believe that there’s going to be a lot of them from PenAir that could automatically go to work for SkyWest,” Hall said. According to the Plattsburgh Press Republican, a SkyWest spokesperson did say the airline would be hiring “local, experienced personnel.”

The final decision on who gets the contract is up to the federal Department of Transportation. The deadline for public comments is this coming Wednesday, February 7.