If you live in Toledo, Ohio or Moline, Illinois, or a few other small cities in the U.S., you have a problem. You can’t get there — or leave there — by air anymore. American, United and Delta all pulled out, and no one showed up to take their place. If you want to fly somewhere from Toledo, you’re driving to Detroit first.

As fuel prices and other operational costs soar, airlines are cancelling flights — or worse, cancelling cities.

And then, there’s something called EAS, or Essential Air Services. EAS was first authorized under the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 for a ten-year term, expiring October 23, 1988, and was designed to give roughly 746 initially eligible communities in the U.S. time to either attract unsubsidized service or accept that service wasn't economically viable.

But when 1988 came, EAS was extended, and it has been continuously funded every year since 1978 — 48 years and counting.

So, how does EAS work? And how does it impact you, especially if you live in smaller cities or markets where air service is limited, or in some cases, nonexistent?