Great news for the airport grant programs! Congress recently passed a new aviation program that significantly increases funds for airport development. Nationwide funding levels for airport grants authorized for Fiscal Year 2001, 2002, and 2003 are $3.2 billion, $3.3 billion, and $3.4 billion, respectively, which represents an increase of almost 75 percent above current funding. Also, the share of the grant program that is designated for general aviation and reliever airports increases from 18 percent to 20 percent. For Texas, this means about $36M will be available in state apportionment funding for general aviation and reliever airport grants for the year beginning October 1, 2000, compared to $20.7 million in the current year, with a small increase each of the three succeeding years.
For the first time, Congress selected some general aviation and reliever airports to receive up to $150,000 per year in entitlement grants. The list includes I 00 airports in Texas with funds for these grants included as part of the state apportionment. Smaller air carrier airports will see their minimum annual funding increase from $500,000 per year to $650,000 in FY 00 and $1 million in FY 01 and beyond.
Other provisions of the new legislation include: Programs to assist in the improvement of scheduled air service to medium and smaller communities; an increase from $3.00 to $4.50 in the maximum passenger facility charge that airports with scheduled air service may charge; approval of routine maintenance as an eligible item for funding; expansion of the Military Airports Program from 12 to 15 airports nationwide; and the prohibition of new solid waste landfills within six miles of a public-use airport, among others.
As all of the changes resulting from this new legislation are too extensive to address in this column, our staff will be providing additional information during the next few months to airport owners through regional planning meetings and airport visits. If you have questions, call our office at 1/800/68-PILOT and we will do our best to answer them.
