US Airport Rescue Grants allocate $227 million for cargo

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today announced total awards of just under $7.4 billion to U.S. airports under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, with grants to respond to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. While most of the funds will target passenger aviation, $227 million was awarded to 120 airports for cargo operations. Among the largest grant-winners for cargo are all five of the U.S.-based airports among the world’s top 10 cargo airports for total traffic in 2020, based on preliminary figures from Airports Council International (ACI). Memphis International Airport (MEM), which in 2020 surpassed Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) as the largest cargo airport by volumes handled, received the largest cargo grant, of $30.6 million. The grant to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) for cargo was the second-highest, at $23 million; Louisville International Airport’s (SDF) cargo entitlement award was $19.6 million; and Miami International Airport’s (MIA) was $11.6 million. Rounding out the top five in award size was Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), with a cargo award of $9.4 million. While the cargo grants are spread across 120 U.S. airports, the 25 largest grants account for 77% of total funds allocated for cargo. 25 Largest Cargo Grant Allocations [caption id="attachment_96064" align="aligncenter" width="609"] Data courtesy of the Federal Aviation Administration.[/caption] Grant funds are being sourced from the U.S. Treasury’s General Fund, according to FAA guidance on the program, and can be used to cover costs related to operations, personnel, cleaning, sanitization, janitorial services, combating pathogen spread at airports and debt-service payments. A spokesperson for MEM told Air Cargo World that the airport hasn’t yet determined specific allocations for the funds but would be able to utilize them under the areas recommended by FAA guidance. Jim Szczesniak, airport director at ANC, said the airport will utilize its grants to offset lost revenue from operations during the pandemic. “Our airline partners have been struggling in this environment, so we anticipate we’ll be using some of the grant revenue to offset some of the revenue that was lost to keep costs low,” Szczesniak told Air Cargo World . “When the pandemic hit, we retrenched our operations to make sure we were as lean as possible. Using some of the federal money will help offset some of the operational losses,” he said. These include, for example, reduced landing fees the airport instituted in support of cargo and passenger carriers operating at ANC, he said.

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