Sen. Schumer helped NYS get Rescue Plan funding.
Hundreds of million dollars to PANYNJ Airports
CRRSSA & American Rescue Plan help but fall short
Congressional bills passed
in December of 2020 and
March 0f 2021 included funding
for airports nationally.
Most of the money is for commercial
airports, airlines employee
wages, airport Covid
relief activities, and airport
concessions. New York received
grant and funding for
most of its many airports but
none was for infrastructure.
The 1st is the CRRSSA
which is a grant program under
the FAA for use in Covid
applications
The second is part of the
$1.9 trilion American Rescue
Plan which adds more
money in addition to the
December bill but not a
significant amount to bail
out airlines, sustain airline
wages for a long time,
nor provide infrastructure
money which is understood
to be the start of an economic
stimulus for Queens
and New York City. Mayor
DeBlasio of NYC recently
extended the JFK Airport
lease with trade-offs for benefits
and increased rent, but
again, this does not put any
hard dollars into the Port
Authority pocket to advance
the initiation of the initially
proposed $17 billion JFK Redevelopment
plan which is
currently on pause.
8 AIRPORT VOICE, MARCH 2021
These is not infrastructure
funding which is the
next huge bill being crafted
by the Congress following
on the heels of the American
Rescue Plan.
The FAA CRRSSAGrant
program for
Covid relief
The Coronavirus Response
and Relief Supplemental
Appropriation Act
(CRRSAA) (Public Law 116-
260) signed into law on December
27, 2020, includes nearly
$2 billion in grant funds to be
awarded as economic relief to
eligible U.S. airports and eligible
concessions at those airports
to prevent, prepare for,
and respond to the coronavirus
disease 2019 (COVID-19)
pandemic.
These funds are coming
directly from the U.S. Treasury’s
General Fund to prevent,
prepare for, and respond
to the impacts of the
COVID-19 pandemic. FAA’s
Office of Airports will administer
these grant funds to airport
sponsors broken down as
follows:
JFK Airport $53 million:
Primary Airport $36 million;
Cargo 1 million;
Concessions $6.5 million;
Cares $9 million
Newark Airport $40
million total; Primary Airport$
28 million; Cargo $1 million;
Concessions $5 million;
Cares $7 million
LaGuardia Airport $27
million; Primary $19 million;
Cargo ); Cares 5 million; Concessions
$3 million; Cares $5
million
MacArthur Airport $4
million
East Hampton Airport
$23,000
Westchester County Airport
$4 million
Gabreski Airport $57,000
Stewart Airport $2.5 million;
Concessions $57,000
Teterboro Airport
$57,000
To distribute these funds,
the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) has established
the Airport Coronavirus
Response Grant Program
(ACRGP). The FAA will make
grants to all airports that are
part of the national airport
system, including all commercial
service airports, all
reliever airports, and some
public-owned general aviation
airports.
America Relief Plan
bill passed Thursday
March 11.
$418 million has been allocated
to New York’s hard
hit airports to continue operating
safely during the
pandemic. The Port Authority
itself will not receive the
$3Billipn requested from
the federal government to
help full the hole left in the
shortfall of revenues normally
provided by the airports,
bridge and tunnel
fees, ocean Port fees and
other transportation arms
of the Port Authority. The
Port has always been self
sustaining, and a bi-state
agency between New Jersey
and NY. There are no actual
provisions for funding a bistate
agency so Congress
has not been able to provide
funds in this manner. Congress
people Schumer and
Meeks, as well as the NY
delegation have been trying
to get this unique bi-state
agency funded since the first
CARES act many moths ago
but have not been successful.
The most current $.9 trillion
package still does not have
funding specifically for the
Port Authority overall.
However according to Senator
Schumer, $418 million
has been released for airports
that fall under the Port Authority
in these amounts: JFK
Airport $218; LaGuardia $107
million, Newark $164 million
and Stewart $4 million.
These amounts also include
$60 million in relief for airport
concessions which are
experiencing a critical phase
of maintaining operations
in terminals with more than
half 2019 passenger volumes
and commensurate sales.
There is $15 billion for Airline
Payroll Support Program
which will save thousands of
airline and airline contractor
jobs with this funding. New
York will receive a sizeable
share of these funds.
The relief package also includes
$3 billion for a temporary
payroll support program,
which will be administered by
the U.S. Department of Transportation,
to provide a 50%
federal share to eligible U.S.
aerospace manufacturing companies
to help cover the wages,
salaries and benefits of manufacturing
employees most at
risk of being furloughed.
Current airport
development
None of the funding is for
infrastructure. Currently
terminals at Newark and
LaGuardia are being constructed
with monies allocated
years ago. Any new
massive redevelopment will
come from a Private Public
Partnership (PPP) primarily
from investors, and the Port
Authority.