USCTA Alert

June 4, 2026

The House Appropriations Committee early this morning approved its version of the Fiscal Year 2027 transportation spending bill on a party-line vote of 34 to 27. The measure includes funding for several airport priorities including $4 billion for AIP, about $271 million for supplemental AIP grants, and almost a $24 million increase for the FAA Contract Tower Program.
 
Airport Funding 
 
Traditional AIP Funding: The House bill includes $4 billion for the traditional AIP account in FY27. Of that amount, $160 million is for administration expenses, $15 million for the Airport Cooperative Research Program, almost $42.2 million for Airport Technology Research, and $15 million for the Small Community Air Service Development Program.
 
Supplemental AIP Funding/Earmarks: It proposes an additional $270.86 million for supplemental AIP funding. Of that amount, $240.86 million is reserved for earmarks, known as “community project funding.” Those earmarks may be viewed here. 
 
Funding to Help Airports Transition to Fluorine-Free Firefighting Foam: Another $17.5 million of the supplemental AIP funding is reserved for the PFAS replacement program. The FAA bill authorized a total of $350 million over five years to help transition to fluorine-free firefighting foam.
 
Advanced Air Mobility Pilot Program: The remaining $12.5 million of the supplemental AIP funding is reserved for the advanced air mobility pilot program.
 

Contract Tower Program
 
Contract Towers: The House bill includes not less than $303 million for the FAA Contract Tower Program – $23.8 million more than the current level. That proposed increase would fund all 266 contract towers currently in the program and allow the FAA to add other airports to the program during the next fiscal year.
 
Contract Tower Transition Pilot Program: The bill includes $6 million to convert high activity contract towers to FAA-staffed facilities – the same amount included in the final F26 DOT spending package. The FY27 bill requires that at least one tower to be located at a small hub airport with more than 1 million passenger enplanements and 40,000 itinerant operations in calendar year 2024 and be located within 100 miles of at least two “military operations areas.”
 
Contract Tower Level of Effort: The Committee report "directs the FAA to use maximum discretion when assessing vendor compliance with performance level clauses in federal contract tower contracts" It also calls on the "FAA to, at a minimum, consider (1) the labor market for controllers, (2) whether such vendor has made incremental improvement in performance and staffing, and (3) efforts of the vendor to address insufficient staffing or performance."
 
Airborne Position Reference Tools: The report voices support for airborne position reference tools to be deployed at contract towers. Specifically, it states “that there are additional safety gains from equipping air traffic control towers with airborne position reference tools.”
 
Other Small Community Programs
 
Small Community Air Service: The House includes $15 million for the Small Community Air Service Development Program to help small airports retain and attract commercial air service.
 
Essential Air Service: The bill includes almost $538.3 million in discretionary funding for EAS – $24.6 million above the current level and $396.3 million more than the administration requested. Coupled with an updated estimate of $174.7 million from overflight fees, overall EAS funding would climb to almost $713 million in FY27.
 

Manager’s Amendment
 
The committee approved a manager’s amendment that added the following language to the report:
 
State Block Grants: “The Committee is aware of federal obstacles to the use of certain procurement and selection methods, such as indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity, for airport projects funded with funds authorized under 49 U.S.C. § 47104(a) and administered under the State Block Grant Program (49 U.S.C. § 47128). The Committee directs the FAA to allow participant states maximum procurement flexibility, when acting as an agent of a recipient airport under the State Block Grant Program, to encourage efficiency and expedite project delivery. Such flexibility should include the use of alternative contracting and project delivery methods such as, but not limited to, construction management at risk, design build, and competitive proposal qualifications-based selections. The Committee directs the FAA, at the headquarters and district office level, to fully engage with states interested in using such flexibilities, at the request of a state, to inform state planning and policy decisions. The Committee directs the FAA to encourage participant states to share information and best practices for program implementation as well as share best practices with states interested in executing alternative contracting and project delivery.”
 
Air Traffic Control Tower Assessments: “The Committee recognizes that many of the Nation’s air traffic control towers have exceeded their intended service life and continue to operate despite aging infrastructure and significant deferred maintenance needs. The Committee directs the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to assess the condition of existing air traffic control tower facilities, with priority given to towers that have recently suffered damage due to extreme weather events, and determine whether those facilities warrant increased priority in the agency’s tower replacement planning under Section 624(c)(2) due to significant structural deficiencies, safety concerns, or major infrastructure failures. The Department shall report to the House and Senate Appropriations Committee regarding which airports have been consulted and how many air traffic control towers have been recommended within 180 days of enactment.”
 
More Details

Earlier this week, the House Appropriations Committee unveiled more details of its proposal when it released the report accompanying the FY27 DOT/FAA spending bill. More information on the bill and key sections of the report may be viewed here.
 
What’s Next?

The Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to consider its version of the FY27 DOT/FAA spending bill later this month.
 
Additional Info

• House Appropriations Committee Press Release.

   

• Republican Bill Summary.

   

• Democratic Bill Summary.

   

• Bill Text.

   

• Committee Report.

   

• Community Project Funding.