The Federal Aviation Administration is making $8 billion in grants available to keep U.S. airport workers employed, construction airport projects moving forward, and help airports recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
[Above graphic via the FAA]
The funding for the grants comes from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 President Biden signed into law in March.
Called the Airport Rescue Grants program, primary commercial service airports will share approximately $6.5 billion based on the number of annual aircraft boardings occurring at their facilities.
An additional $800 million will be available to primary commercial service airports for providing relief to in-terminal airport concessions from rent and minimum annual guarantees including $640 million for relief to small concessions and $160 million for relief to large airport concessions.
Non-primary commercial service and general aviation airports will share $100 million based on their airport categories, FAA said, such as national, regional, local, and basic.
Finally, the remaining funds of the $8 billion will go toward covering an airport’s cost-share portion on grants through the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program as well as the supplemental discretionary grants – meaning airports will likely not have to pay their portion of a given project.
“The FAA is committed to working with the aviation industry as it recovers from the impacts of the pandemic,” said Steve Dickson, FAA administrator, in a statement. “These airport rescue grants provide needed support to our nation’s airports as we recover from the pandemic’s impacts.”
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