The Federal Aviation Administration is lending a helping hand to U.S. airports as they recover from the pandemic, including Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
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The Federal Aviation Administration is lending a helping hand to U.S. airports as they recover from the pandemic, including Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration will award $8 billion in grants to keep U.S. airport workers employed, construction projects going and help U.S. airports recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Airport Rescue Grants keep workers employed and help the aviation sector recover as more Americans get vaccinated and begin traveling again,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a prepared statement.
Sky Harbor is set to receive a total of $158 million under the program. Approximately $138.8 million has been earmarked to support airport operations and an additional $19.2 million will support vendors that operate at the airport. Of that, $15.4 million is designated for small companies.
The total $8 billion will provide economic relief to airports, help keep people employed and pay for costs related to COVID-19 prevention. Airports may also use the money to provide rent relief to retail and concession companies in terminals. The funding requires that airports continue to employ at least 90% of their pre-pandemic employees.
Under the Airport Rescue Grants program:
Primary commercial service airports will share approximately $6.5 billion based on the number of annual boardings.
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, such as national, regional, local, and basic.
The remaining funds of the $8 billion will be used to cover an airport’s cost-share portion on grants through the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program as well as the supplemental discretionary grants. This means 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 FAA Administrator Steve Dickson in a statement. “These airport rescue grants provide needed support to our nation’s airports as we recover from the pandemic’s impacts.”
Lindsay is a Phoenix native and is thrilled to be reporting in her hometown.
After spending several years in advertising after college, she switched gears and graduated with her master’s degree in journalism at Arizona State University in 2019.
When she’s not writing, you can usually find her reading a book or playing with her family’s dogs.
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