Action Alert: House Transportation Relief Package to Include $8 Billion for "Airport Relief"
February 8, 2021
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will soon unveil their part of a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, including $8 billion for airports and concessionaires. Details of the proposal, which are circulating among staff on Capitol Hill, follow below.
As we previously reported, House and Senate Democratic leaders have set the stage for the consideration over the next few weeks of a massive, $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. Democrats are moving forward with a budget process known as reconciliation that will ultimately allow them to approve the new spending by a simple majority in both the House and Senate, where major legislation typically takes 60 votes to pass.
Under the terms of the budget resolution, which the House and Senate narrowly approved last week, committees in both chambers have a pot of money to work with and a deadline of February 16 to produce their individual pieces of the $1.9 trillion package. Lawmakers will then assemble those pieces into a final reconciliation bill, which will be voted on by the House and Senate. Leaders hope to have the package through the House and Senate and to the President by March 14 before current enhanced unemployment insurance benefits expire.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will begin considering and voting on its piece of the budget resolution including proposed funding for airports and concessionaires on Wednesday morning.
Airport-Related Provisions – House T&I Committee Reconciliation Package
Airport Funding: The plan to be unveiled by House Democrats includes an additional $8 billion to help airports and concessionaires "prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus."
Primary Airports: Of the $8 billion included in the bill, $6.492 billion would be reserved for primary airports and certain cargo airports to use for "costs related to operations, personnel, cleaning, sanitization, janitorial services, combating the spread of pathogens at the airport, and debt service payments." The federal share would be 100 percent.
Funds would be distributed based on a modified AIP apportionment run – as was the case with the airport funding included in the December relief package. The cargo set-aside would remain intact, and there would be no maximum grant amount or PFC turnback. It would preserve doubled entitlements and retain the $1 million minimum entitlement for smaller primary airports. Any remaining funds would be distributed based on enplanements.
Non-Primary Commercial Service/General Aviation Airports: The bill includes $100 million for nonprimary commercial service and general aviation airports with a 100 percent federal share.
Concessionaries: The measure also provides primary airports $800 million "to provide relief from rents and minimum annual guarantees to airport concessions." Of that amount, $640 million would be reserved for "small" airport concessions and $160 million for "large" airport concessions.
An eligible small airport concession is defined as a concession that is "in-terminal" and is a small business with a three-year average of less than $56.42 million in maximum gross receipts or is a joint venture. An eligible large airport concession is defined as a concession that is "in-terminal" and has a three-year average of more than $56.42 million in maximum gross receipts.
The measure calls for airports to "provide relief from rent and minimum annual guarantee obligations to each eligible airport concession in an amount that reflects each eligible airport concession's proportional share of the total amount of the rent and minimum annual guarantees of all those eligible airport concessions at such airport."
Federal Share for AIP Grants: The bill includes $608 million to pay "a Federal share of 100 percent of the costs for any grant awarded in fiscal year 2021, or in fiscal year 2020 with less than 100 percent federal share…."
Eligibility: Any airport that received more than four years of operating expenses under the CARES Act would be ineligible for these funds.
Workforce Retention: The bill requires that airports receiving funding to "continue to employ, through September 30, 2021, at least 90 percent of the number of individuals employed (after making adjustments for retirements or voluntary employee separations) by the airport as of March 27, 2020."
The Secretary of Transportation may waive the workforce retention requirement if the Secretary determines that the airport is "experiencing economic hardship as a direct result of the requirement, or the requirement reduces aviation safety or security." As has been the case with previous relief measures, the workforce retention requirement does not apply to nonhub or nonprimary airports.
Airport Input Needed to Press for Additional Relief
As we have indicated previously, the House Transportation and Infrastructure and Senate Commerce Committees, will largely determine the fate of funding for airports, concessionaires, and other transportation interests in the next coronavirus relief package.
With the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee scheduled to begin considering their section of the bill on Wednesday it is critical that you weigh with your lawmakers – and especially those who serve on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee – as quickly as possible.
Please urge your lawmakers to support efforts to provide airports and our partners with an additional $8 billion in the next coronavirus relief package. (Please keep in mind that if this turns out to be partisan exercise, there may be little or no Republican support for the overall package.)
Your specifics are likely to be the most impactful information for your individual House and Senate members, so we have included draft talking points below that lead with that along with the broader industry "asks." Contact information for your House members and Senators is available via these links.
Draft Talking Points – Additional Relief
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will soon unveil their part of a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, including $8 billion for airports and concessionaires. Details of the proposal, which are circulating among staff on Capitol Hill, follow below.
As we previously reported, House and Senate Democratic leaders have set the stage for the consideration over the next few weeks of a massive, $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. Democrats are moving forward with a budget process known as reconciliation that will ultimately allow them to approve the new spending by a simple majority in both the House and Senate, where major legislation typically takes 60 votes to pass.
Under the terms of the budget resolution, which the House and Senate narrowly approved last week, committees in both chambers have a pot of money to work with and a deadline of February 16 to produce their individual pieces of the $1.9 trillion package. Lawmakers will then assemble those pieces into a final reconciliation bill, which will be voted on by the House and Senate. Leaders hope to have the package through the House and Senate and to the President by March 14 before current enhanced unemployment insurance benefits expire.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will begin considering and voting on its piece of the budget resolution including proposed funding for airports and concessionaires on Wednesday morning.
Airport-Related Provisions – House T&I Committee Reconciliation Package
Airport Funding: The plan to be unveiled by House Democrats includes an additional $8 billion to help airports and concessionaires "prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus."
Primary Airports: Of the $8 billion included in the bill, $6.492 billion would be reserved for primary airports and certain cargo airports to use for "costs related to operations, personnel, cleaning, sanitization, janitorial services, combating the spread of pathogens at the airport, and debt service payments." The federal share would be 100 percent.
Funds would be distributed based on a modified AIP apportionment run – as was the case with the airport funding included in the December relief package. The cargo set-aside would remain intact, and there would be no maximum grant amount or PFC turnback. It would preserve doubled entitlements and retain the $1 million minimum entitlement for smaller primary airports. Any remaining funds would be distributed based on enplanements.
Non-Primary Commercial Service/General Aviation Airports: The bill includes $100 million for nonprimary commercial service and general aviation airports with a 100 percent federal share.
Concessionaries: The measure also provides primary airports $800 million "to provide relief from rents and minimum annual guarantees to airport concessions." Of that amount, $640 million would be reserved for "small" airport concessions and $160 million for "large" airport concessions.
An eligible small airport concession is defined as a concession that is "in-terminal" and is a small business with a three-year average of less than $56.42 million in maximum gross receipts or is a joint venture. An eligible large airport concession is defined as a concession that is "in-terminal" and has a three-year average of more than $56.42 million in maximum gross receipts.
The measure calls for airports to "provide relief from rent and minimum annual guarantee obligations to each eligible airport concession in an amount that reflects each eligible airport concession's proportional share of the total amount of the rent and minimum annual guarantees of all those eligible airport concessions at such airport."
Federal Share for AIP Grants: The bill includes $608 million to pay "a Federal share of 100 percent of the costs for any grant awarded in fiscal year 2021, or in fiscal year 2020 with less than 100 percent federal share…."
Eligibility: Any airport that received more than four years of operating expenses under the CARES Act would be ineligible for these funds.
Workforce Retention: The bill requires that airports receiving funding to "continue to employ, through September 30, 2021, at least 90 percent of the number of individuals employed (after making adjustments for retirements or voluntary employee separations) by the airport as of March 27, 2020."
The Secretary of Transportation may waive the workforce retention requirement if the Secretary determines that the airport is "experiencing economic hardship as a direct result of the requirement, or the requirement reduces aviation safety or security." As has been the case with previous relief measures, the workforce retention requirement does not apply to nonhub or nonprimary airports.
Airport Input Needed to Press for Additional Relief
As we have indicated previously, the House Transportation and Infrastructure and Senate Commerce Committees, will largely determine the fate of funding for airports, concessionaires, and other transportation interests in the next coronavirus relief package.
With the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee scheduled to begin considering their section of the bill on Wednesday it is critical that you weigh with your lawmakers – and especially those who serve on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee – as quickly as possible.
Please urge your lawmakers to support efforts to provide airports and our partners with an additional $8 billion in the next coronavirus relief package. (Please keep in mind that if this turns out to be partisan exercise, there may be little or no Republican support for the overall package.)
Your specifics are likely to be the most impactful information for your individual House and Senate members, so we have included draft talking points below that lead with that along with the broader industry "asks." Contact information for your House members and Senators is available via these links.
Draft Talking Points – Additional Relief
- On behalf of _______, I urge you to ensure that relief to airports and our industry partners is included in the coronavirus relief package assembled in the days ahead by the House Transportation Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee as part of the reconciliation process.
- The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee recently unveiled a plan to provide airports and concessionaires with $8 billion to respond to and recover from the pandemic. I urge you to support that proposal because it would provide airports like ours with the funding we need to meet significant challenges in the months ahead.
- The aviation industry is facing unprecedented challenges and is in desperate need of additional federal support. Our nation's economic recovery depends on a strong aviation system.
- Like the airlines, airports are burning through cash as passenger traffic continues to be 60-70% below 2019 levels.
- Airports have to remain open and operational, make debt payments, and invest in increased public health improvements - all while revenues plummet.
- Reduced revenues and increased costs are forcing many airports to slash budgets, put capital projects on hold, deplete their reserves, and contemplate layoffs or furloughs.
- The challenges are growing more intense by the day as uncertainty grows.
- At our airport (please provide specifics)….
- Providing airports with more funding now will ensure they can continue to respond to new operational demands, pay for debt service on their bonds, help keep their critical safety and security projects on track, and keep airport staff employed.
- Thank you for your consideration and support.
