The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Monday accepted the city of St. Louis’ preliminary application to participate in the agency’s Airport Privatization Pilot Program, which allows airports to access sources of capital for airport improvements and development.
With its approval, the city of St. Louis can now choose a private operator for airport management, contract negotiation, and its submission to the FAA for final approval. Once a private operator is chosen and accepted, that operator may receive Airport Improvement Program grants and charge passenger facility fees.
As part of its authorization, the private operator may receive the same level of grant participation as public sponsors, 75 percent of which come from federal sources. The remaining 25 percent will come from local sources.
“Today’s announcement to accept the St. Louis Lambert International Airport’s preliminary application to participate in FAA’s Airport Privatization Pilot Program demonstrates the administration’s commitment to leveraging innovative financing strategies to revitalize our nation’s aviation infrastructure,” said Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.
“As we’ve already seen in San Juan, this approach to airport management increases productivity, revenue and operating efficiency for airports, creating greater access to capital for infrastructure needs.”
The program was established as part of the Federal Aviation Reauthorization Act of 1996 and capped the program at five medium-sized airports. The 2012 reauthorization bill raised the number of airports that could participate from five to 10.