WASHINGTON – Small airports won a one-year respite Tuesday from a new federal rule that eventually could require them to pay part of the costs of offering commuter air service in rural areas.

After next year, however, the Transportation Department rule will all but certainly force 10 small airports nationwide to pay 10 percent of a government subsidy for four years to commuter airlines that serve sparsely populated areas.

Critics of the rule, led by Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., charge it would cost too much for already-strapped airports to pay and would lead to grounding commercial flights in rural communities. The delay is a last-ditch compromise to give small airports time to prepare to pay up.

Three northern New England airports – Lebanon, N.H., Rutland, Vt., and Augusta-Waterville, Maine – are among 29 in 18 states that could be selected for the DOT’s co-pay pilot program. The rule would apply only to small airports located within 100 miles of a larger airline hub, and only one airport may be selected in each of 10 states.

The airports – and the surrounding communities that govern them – can appeal their selection if they can show they cannot afford the 10 percent co-pay.