No air carrier shall abandon any route or part thereof for which a certificate has been issued by the administrator unless, upon the application of the air carrier and after notice and a hearing by the administrator, he or she shall find abandonment to be in the public interest. Any interested person may appear and be heard in opposition or in support of any abandonment. The administrator may, by regulation or otherwise, authorize such temporary suspension of service as may be in the public interest.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-11-15