Airports to Congress: $10 billion needed to survive

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Airports need an injection of $10 billion to deal with the challenges presented by COVID-19, an association representing airports said in a letter to Congress this week.

The Airports Council International – North America (ACI-NA) and the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) asked Congress for immediate assistance to keep the industry afloat. The move is necessary, the groups said, because of their importance to the national economy.

In the letter from Kevin Burke, president and CEO f ACI-NA and Todd Hauptil, president and CEO of AAAE, the two organizations asked Congress to give special consideration to airports.

“For airports, we are seeking $10 billion in immediate assistance to flow through the existing FAA Airport Improvement Program with expanded eligibility to meet airports’ most immediate needs,” Burke and Hauptli write. “To be clear, a rapid infusion of cash grants to airports must be in any immediate plan considered by Congress.”

According to the letter, airports need the cash infusion to maintain their operations, keep people employed, and make debt payments. Airport infrastructures, the organizations said in their letters, were built using more than $100 billion in collective debt. Failure to make the estimated $7 billion in airport bond principal and interest due this calendar year would increase airport operating costs in the future.

“[I]t is imperative that special attention be given to the aviation industry, given its profound impact on the national economy and the devastating impacts the coronavirus will have on airlines, airports, and the myriad businesses that operate at airports across the country,” Burke and Hauptli note. “The aviation system is highly interdependent, so any effort to provide relief must include airports, airlines, and the businesses that rely on them.”