Federal grants totaling just under $1 billion are going to 85 airports to improve and extend terminals and other facilities, the first installment of $5 billion set aside in last year’s infrastructure bill.
The grants, announced by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, include $60 million for terminal improvements at Denver, including replacement of its bag-handling system; $50 million each for Boston’s Logan and Orlando; $49.6 million for a new concourse at Washington Dulles and $20 million for an additional terminal at Pittsburgh International Airport.
The FAA selected the projects from 658 submitted by 532 airports. If all had been approved, the total would have been more than $14 billion.
In the past, federal money has mainly gone to runways, towers and taxiways, with terminal improvements funded from the per-passenger fee charged by airports as part of ticket prices; Buttigieg said it’s appropriate to spend taxpayer money on projects that were generally funded by passenger fees in the past because “there is a need out there; taxpayers expect it and want it.”
