The Aircraft Electronics Association, along with 27 other industry organizations, recently sent a letter of support to congressional leadership regarding the Forward Looking Investment in GA, Hangars, and Tarmacs (FLIGHT) Act of 2017.
The Senate bill was introduced by Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), while the House version was introduced by Reps. Sam Graves (R-MO) and Cheri Bustos (D-IL).
The bipartisan legislation seeks to provide long overdue flexibility for the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) existing budget to address the growing needs of U.S. airport systems, such as infrastructure projects at general aviation and small airport facilities.
Specific projects included in the FLIGHT Act contain maintaining and upgrading runways, taxiways, and aprons as well as meeting the need for new hangars, which helps keep these airports and the communities that rely on them vibrant and competitive.
The U.S. aviation industry contributes $219 billion to the economy, helped by its network of some 2,950 non-primary airports.
“Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, our non-primary airports have not been able to fully utilize their federal airport grants to repair aging facilities, enhance aviation safety, and build necessary infrastructure projects,” according to the letter from air industry groups to lawmakers. “The FLIGHT Act addresses these concerns in a fiscally sound manner by extending the current rollover period by one year and ensuring that any non-primary grant carryover be placed in a FAA discretionary account so those funds are ultimately allocated for high priority non primary airport projects.”
The bill also creates a public-private partnership pilot program that seeks to help airports garner private sector investment for construction projects. This is a specifically good program for several cash strapped communities that want to upgrade and rebuild aging facilities.