Airport Alert: AAAE Seeks Airport Feedback on Airport Infrastructure Grant Program Funds
AAAE Seeks Airport Feedback on Airport Infrastructure Grant Program Funds
June 3, 2024
AAAE has become aware of an increasing number of conversations on Capitol Hill relating to a potential “claw back” of funding that was provided by Congress through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). This could include funds that remain available to airports through the Airport Infrastructure Grant (AIG) Program and any other funding that will be awarded to airports in the final two years of the five-year BIL program.
While AAAE is confident that BIL funding will be protected in the near term, that could change, especially depending on the outcome of the upcoming presidential election. As a result, we are surveying our members to better understand how airports are planning to use their share of AIG Program funds that have been available to them for the first three years of the program. We are asking that you please respond to this survey by Friday, June 21. All results will be confidential and will help us protect the $20 billion that AAAE and the airport community secured for critically needed airport infrastructure projects.
Background on AIG Program. In 2021, Congress created the AIG Program through the BIL. The AIG Program provides airports with $15 billion for airport infrastructure upgrades over five years. Over the course of the first three years, FAA has provided about $8.7 billion in AIG Program funding allocations to airports. Each airport’s allocation represents the amount that each airport is entitled to use for a grant to fund any AIP or PFC eligible project. Airports may combine multiple years’ allocations to fund a single project; however, each years’ allocation must be under a grant agreement with FAA within four fiscal years.
Unused AIG Program Funds. Based on data from FAA, the agency has awarded about $2.9 billion for specific airport projects from the $8.7 billion in funding allocations that have been made available during the first three years of the program. Of the $2.9 billion in FY22 AIG allocations, about $1.3 billion remains available and unused. We have already received—and expect to continue to receive—questions as to why airports have not spent more of the BIL funding that has been made available to them. Your responses to the survey will help us better respond to these questions and inform our messaging.
Distribution of Unused/Recovered AIG Funds. It is important to note that if an airport does not obtain a grant to use a specific year’s allocation of AIG funds after four fiscal years, FAA recovers those funds and redistributes them in the fifth year. The first $100 million will be awarded as competitive grants under the FAA Contract Tower (FCT) Competitive Grant Program, while any remaining funds will be available through a new competitive grant program called the AIG Sweep Program (ASP). The process for airports to apply for an ASP grant will be outlined in a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) released each year.
We encourage you to review a one-pager we prepared that outlines the AIG Program process and relevant deadlines.
