Non-primary commercial service and general aviation airports across the United States will share US$45 million ($57.4 million in Canadian funds) based on their airport categories, such as National, Regional, Local, and Basic. Of the US$45 million, non-primary commercial service and general airports that participate in the FAA Contract Tower Program will divide US$5 million equally.

This funding is part of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriation Act signed on December 27, 2020, which includes a total of US$2 billion in economic relief being made available to eligible U.S. airports.

“This new grant program will provide much-needed economic relief to airports around the country as they address the COVID-19 public health emergency,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao.

To distribute these funds, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has established the Airport Coronavirus Response Grant Program. The FAA will make grants to all eligible airports that are part of the national airport system, including all commercial service airports, all reliever airports, and some public-owned general aviation airports.

In addition to the funding being provided to some public-owned general aviation airports, primary commercial service airports, those with more than 10,000 annual passenger boardings, will share US$1.75 billion based on the number of annual boardings.

Primary commercial service airports will share an additional US$200 million based on the number of annual boardings, and these funds will then be available for these airports to provide relief from rent and minimum annual guarantees to on-airport car rental, on-airport parking, and in-terminal airport concessions. Airports will provide this relief to each airport concession, according to the FAA, based on its proportional share of the total annual rent and minimum annual guarantees for the airport.

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