Airport Improvement Program, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Programs, and COVID-19 Airports Programs (20.106)
Airport Improvement Program, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Programs, and COVID-19 Airports Programs (Assistance Listing 20.106) is run by the Federal Aviation Administration, part of the Department of Transportation. It awarded $41 billion in 18,312 grants from fiscal 2021 to 2025, about $2.2 million per award on average. No funding opportunity is open on Grants.gov right now.
The typical award was $328,642. Half of the 18,312 awards fell between $72,838 and $1.4 million, and they ranged from $1 to $324 million.
- Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$41 billion
- Grant awards18,312
- Typical award$328,642
- Awarded in FY 2025$8.9 billion
- Size rank15 of 1824
- Type of assistanceProject grants, advisory services and counseling
Key findings
- Annual funding fell from $10 billion in fiscal 2021 to $8.9 billion in fiscal 2025.
- It is the 15th largest of 1,824 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
- The 20 largest recipients received 33% of the money.
- Awards went to recipients in 59 states and territories.
What the program funds
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has several strategic goals: Safety, People, Global Leadership, and Operational excellence. The FAA Office of Airports (ARP) grant programs described in this listing contribute to these goals, as outlined in the FAA Annual Summary of Performance and Financial Information. The ARP mission is planning and developing a safe and efficient national airports system to satisfy the needs of the aviation interests of the U.S., with considerations for economics, environmental issues, local proprietary rights, and safeguarding the public investment. As an important component of that mission, ARP provides financial assistance to airports nationwide through grants. These grants contribute to the objective of maintaining and optimizing airport and runway safety, capacity, efficiency, financial responsibility, and environmental sustainability. The program objective of this listing is to assist sponsors, owners, or operators of public-use airports in the development of a nationwide system of airports adequate to meet the needs of civil aeronautics. The purpose of the various laws applicable to this program includes the investment in transportation, environmental protection, and airport infrastructure that will support long-term economic benefits. Grants to airports also support the objectives of several Executive Orders, including Executive Order 14005 – “Ensuring the Future is Made in all of America by All of America’s Workers”(as listed in the Regulations and Guidance Section). Performance measurement and reporting. An example of performance measurement: In the mission area of safety, the FAA Business Plan has several Initiatives, including the Initiative on Runway Pavement Maintenance. This initiative ensures that airport infrastructure is kept in a safe and serviceable condition through capital improvements and airport inspections. The related activity is to ensure runway pavement is kept in a safe and serviceable condition by maintaining eligible runway pavement in Excellent, Good, or Fair condition. The performance measure, as a specific target metric, is ensuring that this condition is met (based on visual inspections) for 93 percent of the paved runways in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS). The financial assistance provided through these federal grants contribute to the capital improvements mentioned above. For performance reporting, all grants are required to submit performance reports (Annually for non-construction grants: FAA Form 5100-140 Performance Report, and quarterly for construction grants: FAA Form 5370-1 Construction Progress and Inspection Report). These reports include reporting on project milestone goals as well as lab and field testing for construction projects. With a standard period of performance of 4 years, projects must be completed within that timeframe. Projects are monitored throughout the period of performance and grant disbursements are regularly tracked. The program office monitors period of performance expirations and grant closeout in order to confirm successful project completion. A key performance indicator for the program in this listing is number of grant projects successfully completed and closed out. This measurement of grant funding disbursement as well as progress of projects towards completion aligns with and is reported on in the FAA’s Annual Performance and Accountability Report.
Open opportunities
No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.
Rules from the program listing
Who can apply
States, counties, municipalities, U.S. Territories and possessions, and other public agencies including an Indian tribe or pueblo, the Republics of the Marshall Islands and Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia are eligible for airport development grants if the airport on which the development is required is listed in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS). Certain local government organizations may be eligible for grants to implement noise planning and compatibility projects. Private owners of public-use reliever airports or airports having at least 2,500 passengers boarding annually and receiving scheduled passenger aircraft service may also be eligible. CARES and ARPA state that only sponsors of airports in categories defined in 49 U.S.C. 47102 are eligible. Airports in U.S. territories (American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam) are included in the NPIAS and are eligible. Airports in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau, and Midway Island are not included in the NPIAS. While these airport sponsors may be eligible for some AIP discretionary funding, they are not eligible under CARES, and ARPA. Due to some airports receiving four times their annual operating expenses in relief under the CARES Act based on formula calculations, these same airports were not granted funding under ARPA.
What the money can and cannot pay for
How assistance may be used, described in this sequence: AIP, Covid relief, IIJA. AIP Grants can be made for integrated airport system planning in a specific area and airport master planning, construction, or rehabilitation at a public-use airport or portion thereof. Authorizing legislation refers to an airport as any area of land or water used or intended to be used for landing or taking off of aircraft and includes, within five categories of airports listed below, special types of facilities such as seaplane bases and heliports. The statute defines airports by categories which include: commercial service, primary, cargo service, reliever, general aviation airports - defined in Chapter 4, Section 4.5 of AIP Handbook (FAA Order 5100.38D.) General aviation (GA): defined as public airports that are not commercial service airports, and these comprise largest single group of airports in the U.S. airport system.
Matching requirements
Statutory Formula: Title 49 U.S. Code, Subtitle VII, Part B,, Part B, Subpart § 47114 - Apportionments.,Public Law ..Both AIP and IIJA have entitlement programs based on formulas as well as discretionary grants. For entitlement programs under AIP, formulas are based on 49 U.S. Code §47114 Apportionments as well as 49 US Code §48103. Refer to FAA AIP Handbook for additional details – link: https://www.faa.gov/airports/aip/aip_handbook . For BIL, formulas are based on 49 USC §47114 (c)(1) and 49 USC §47114 (c)(2), with some additional nuances and exceptions as outlined in the IIJA FAQ on this FAA website: https://www.faa.gov/iijaFor AIP and IIJA AIG allocations the local match when not combined with a covid relief program, is normally between 5% and 25% and is determined by a variety of factors provided for by legislation. Select pilot studies under the AIP program may have a local match of up to 50%. Due to COVID-19 relief programs such as CARES and ARPA, required local sponsor match for AIP grants in some years was 0%. For IIJA ATP, matching requirement for grants to Large and Medium Hub airports is 20% Matching requirements for Small, Non-Hub and Non-Primary airports 5%. For IIJA FCT there is no local match for selected projects.MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.
Deadlines
Sponsors must formally accept grant offers no later than September 30 for grant funds appropriated in that fiscal year. IIJA AIG funds allocations are posted annually and available in the first quarter of each individual FY through FY2026. There is no specific application deadline but the allocations are only available to the airport for 4 years. For IIJA ATP and FCT competitive discretionary programs the application deadlines are outlined in the annual Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) - NOFOs will be issued annually for available funds through FY2026. Application deadlines for COVID-19 Airports Programs: For CARES: while there was no specific application deadline, FAA intent was to award grants and obligate these funds on an expedited basis. Any unobligated CARES funds were rescinded on June 3, 2023, as such there are no new CARES general grants being awarded in the future. For ARPA funds, the application deadline was November 30, 2021.
Award range and average, in the agency's words
FY 2023 AIP, Supplemental and CARES grants awards ranged from $1,884 to $32,078,375 with an average award of $2,314,650. FY 2024 AIP, Supplemental and CARES grants awards ranged from $380 to $68,124,184 with an average award of $2,497,202. FY 2023 IIJA awards ranged from $5,700 to $79,278,162, with an average award of $3,531,457. FY 2024 IIJA awards ranged from $23,688 to $77,675,450, with an average award of $2,463,954.
Examples of funded projects
Fiscal Year2016: No current data available for FY 2016. (1) airport master plans; (2) airport noise compatibility plans; (3) land acquisition; (4) site preparation; (5) construction, alteration, and rehabilitation of runways, taxiways, aprons, and certain roads within airport boundaries; (6) construction and installation of airfield lighting, navigational aids, and certain offsite work; (7) safety equipment required for certification of airport facility; (8) security equipment required of the sponsor by the Secretary of Transportation by rule or regulation for the safety and security of persons and property on the airport; (9) snow-removal equipment; (10) terminal development; (11) aviation-related weather reporting equipment; (12) equipment to measure runway surface friction; (13) burn area training structures and land for that purpose, on or off airport; (14) agency-approved noise compatibility projects; (15) relocation of air traffic control towers and navigational aids (including radar) if they impede other projects funded under AIP; (16) land, paving, drainage, aircraft deicing equipment and structures for centralized deicing areas; and (17) projects to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Clean Air Act, and Federal Water Pollution Control. Under limited criteria construction of hangars and automobile parking lots.
Funding history and past recipients
From fiscal 2021 to 2025, Airport Improvement Program, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Programs, and COVID-19 Airports Programs (20.106) awarded$41 billion across 18,312 grant awards, an average of $2.2 million per award.
Who usually wins
State and local governments received 99% of the money, businesses 0.8% and colleges and universities 0.4%.
| Recipient type | Awards | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| State and local governments | 17,856 | $40 billion | 99% |
| Businesses | 169 | $331 million | 0.8% |
| Colleges and universities | 124 | $142 million | 0.4% |
| Tribal governments and organizations | 100 | $33.1 million | less than 0.1% |
| Other | 17 | $29.6 million | less than 0.1% |
| Nonprofits | 22 | $15.1 million | less than 0.1% |
| Individuals | 14 | $6.6 million | less than 0.1% |
| Small businesses | 10 | $3.3 million | less than 0.1% |
By state
Each state below has its own page for this program, with its recipients and yearly totals.
| State | Awards | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| California | 1,064 | $3.7 billion |
| Texas | 489 | $3.1 billion |
| Florida | 782 | $3.0 billion |
| New York | 692 | $1.7 billion |
| Alaska | 553 | $1.7 billion |
| Illinois | 302 | $1.4 billion |
| North Carolina | 176 | $1.4 billion |
| Colorado | 394 | $1.3 billion |
| Washington | 470 | $1.2 billion |
| Georgia | 170 | $1.1 billion |
| Pennsylvania | 394 | $1.1 billion |
| Arizona | 361 | $1.1 billion |
| Michigan | 331 | $989 million |
| Minnesota | 703 | $918 million |
| Tennessee | 130 | $794 million |
| Missouri | 206 | $776 million |
| Massachusetts | 247 | $716 million |
| Kentucky | 411 | $685 million |
| Indiana | 550 | $680 million |
| Nevada | 232 | $665 million |
| Utah | 268 | $640 million |
| Ohio | 680 | $613 million |
| Alabama | 556 | $611 million |
| Hawaii | 62 | $608 million |
| Louisiana | 431 | $540 million |
| District of Columbia | 34 | $536 million |
| Montana | 483 | $535 million |
| Oregon | 341 | $526 million |
| Wisconsin | 227 | $505 million |
| South Carolina | 373 | $484 million |
| Virginia | 324 | $465 million |
| Iowa | 540 | $463 million |
| Maryland | 141 | $447 million |
| Oklahoma | 506 | $417 million |
| Arkansas | 468 | $407 million |
| North Dakota | 412 | $366 million |
| Nebraska | 387 | $362 million |
| Kansas | 472 | $344 million |
| Mississippi | 498 | $335 million |
| Wyoming | 257 | $305 million |
| South Dakota | 383 | $302 million |
| Idaho | 306 | $296 million |
| New Mexico | 321 | $274 million |
| Maine | 296 | $270 million |
| Puerto Rico | 70 | $257 million |
| West Virginia | 220 | $228 million |
| Connecticut | 97 | $217 million |
| Rhode Island | 60 | $165 million |
| Vermont | 101 | $148 million |
| Guam | 28 | $147 million |
| New Hampshire | 81 | $137 million |
| New Jersey | 101 | $129 million |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | 28 | $111 million |
| Federated States of Micronesia | 5 | $81.5 million |
| Northern Mariana Islands | 28 | $54.3 million |
| Delaware | 45 | $44.0 million |
| Marshall Islands | 2 | $39.2 million |
| American Samoa | 20 | $39.0 million |
| Palau | 3 | $9.8 million |