CONGRESS AUTHORIZES $3.28 FOR AIRPORT PROGRAM
Recently, Congress passed legislation to fully fund the airport grant program for Fiscal Year 2001. For Texas, that means that our share of guaranteed funding increases from approximately $24 million last year to about $36 million for the current year. This large increase in federal funding could not have come at a better time as we continue to see increasing demand for airport construction grants.
In addition to the $36 million for general aviation and reliever airport grants, Congress also earmarked funding for eight airports in Texas. They include: $8 million for Alliance Airport; $2 million for Abilene Regional Airport; $2 million for George Bush Intercontinental Airport; $2 million for Sugar Land Airport; $2 million to Killeen for joint use development at Robert Gray Army Airfield at Fort Hood; $500,000 for Brazoria County Airport; $500,000 for Houston Southwest Airport; and $200,000 for the former Kelly Air Force Base Airport.
For the first time, some general aviation and reliever airports will be eligible to receive entitlement grants in an amount up to $150,000 for each of the next three years. Our staff is currently developing a process for administering these grants and will contact eligible airports within the next 30 days to discuss how the grants will be used. (See related article on the front page.)
As always, if you have any questions about this or any other air transportation matters, give us a call at 1/800/68-PILOT.
