You may have seen a lot about airlines getting financial assistance during these difficult times but, not surprisingly, airports have asked the government for relief as well. And they just got their answer.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao announced on April 14th that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is prepared to deliver $10 billion in CARES Act grants to eligible airports throughout the United States.
The funding will be distributed to airports to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the impacts of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Funding for commercial service airports that have at least 10,000 passengers per year will receive an amount based on a combination of how many passengers they get per year, the amount of debt they have, and the amount of money they have in reserve. In general, the higher an airport’s reserves are, or the lower its obligations are, the more money it has the potential to receive.
The amount general aviation airports will get will be based on their airport categories i.e., National, Regional, Local, Basic and Unclassified).
The funds are available for airport capital expenditures, airport operating expenses including payroll and utilities, and airport debt payments.
Here’s what the 10 busiest airports in the country received:
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta (ATL): $338,535,265
- Chicago O’Hare Int’l Airport (ORD): $294,441,928
- Los Angeles (LAX): $323,636,269
- Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW): $299,199,046
- John F. Kennedy (JFK): $193,389,105
- Denver (DEN): $269,073,999
- San Francisco (SFO): $254,780,449
- McCarran (LAS): $195,485,334
- Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX): $147,883,988
- George Bush Intercontinental (IAH): $149,187,874
On the other side of the coin, several small, public-owned airports received as little as $1000 in grant money. Click here for a PDF of what each airport received.
The formula for how they determined funding can be found in this PDF. It’s been a LONG time since I had to read formulas like this, so I won’t add anything beyond the link itself. Sorry not sorry 😉 But it’s there for you to see if you want to delve into it. 🙂
Just as nearly every other industry is suffering right now, so are the airports. Hopefully, this will be able to help them along until we begin to experience whatever our post-pandemic “new normal” is going to be.
*** Feature photo courtesy of MCO/Facebook
#stayhealthy #stayathome #washyourhands
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
2 comments
Just glancing through the extended list it seems like some strange or unequal amounts being ear marked. For example Garden City airport in Western Kansas is getting $17m while Wichita (which is much larger with much more traffic) is getting $11m. Heck even Topeka is getting $16m and it is also smaller. Joplin Missouri seems to be getting much less than some sister cities of similar size in Missouri.
Based on what I read (and then wrote LOL), size of airport was part of it, but so was how much debt they had, as well as how much in savings. Maybe that’s why?