Congress Passes Supplemental Appropriation For FAA Airport Improvement Program
On March 23, President Trump signed into law an “Omnibus Bill” that provided funding to keep the federal government operating through Sept. 30, 2018. Included in that bill was a provision to provide $1B in additional Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funds for airport development through Sept. 30, 2020, under specific requirements:
- Funding comes from the General Fund, not the Airport and Airways Trust Fund;
- Funding is not subject to apportionment formulas, special apportionment categories, or minimum percentages;
- USDOT/FAA will distribute funds as discretionary grants to airports and must give priority consideration to projects at:
(a) non-primary airports, “general aviation airports” that are classified as regional, local, or basic airports and are not located within a metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area as defined by the Office of Management and Budget; or
(b) primary airports, “commercial service airports” that are classified as small or non-hub airports; - The federal share for these grants for general aviation airports is 100 percent. Grant amounts are not subject to any limitation or obligations in the AIP.
Fifty-six of our general aviation airports, out of a total of 278, are eligible for the funding, primarily in the rural areas of the state. General aviation airports in Texas that are eligible for this new funding, and other information about the Omnibus AIP, is listed on the Aviation Division website at http://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/ txdot-info/avn/omnibus.pdf.
If your airport is eligible for this new funding, and you are interested in applying for a project, please contact your TxDOT Aviation Division planner as soon as possible.
2018 Texas Aviation Conference
The 2018 Texas Aviation Conference, held at Moody Gardens in Galveston in March, was one of our best, with over 500 participants. Be sure to join us next year April 16-18, as we return to Galveston for the 2019 conference.
