Cantwell Announces Over $22 Million in Grants to Washington State Airports

08.24.21

Cantwell Announces Over $22 Million in Grants to Washington State Airports

$10 Million going to Wenatchee’s Pangborn Memorial, $4 Million going to Bremerton National Airport

EDMONDS, WA – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, announced more than $22 million in grants from the Department of Transportation (DOT) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) awarded to Washington airports through the Airport Improvement Program (AIP). These grants are funded in part by $100 million that Cantwell helped secure in the American Rescue Plan Act, which was signed into law by President Biden on March 11, 2021. Thanks to this grant provision, the projects will not have to pay the usual local match.

“These $22.5 million in grants are an important investment in our state’s transportation infrastructure and will help foster our continued economic growth. Washington travelers rely on their local airports to connect them to destinations across the U.S and beyond,” said Senator Cantwell.

The funding provides economic relief to eligible commercial service, reliever, and general aviation airports. Details for each grant are linked in the table below. Funding from these grants will largely go toward airport improvement projects like apron and apron lighting reconstruction, rehabilitating emergency generators, installing airfield guidance signs, and to conduct airport related environmental assessments.

DOT FAA Grant Recipients include:

Senator Cantwell has long supported airports throughout the State of Washington. Through the Airport Improvement Program (AIP), Senator Cantwell has helped airports throughout Washington state get funding. In June, Cantwell announced over $217 Million in grants from the Airport Rescue Grants program awarded to Washington airports to help keep people safe and employed by reimbursing operational expenses, debt service payments, and costs related to combating the spread of pathogens at the airport.

In May, Cantwell announced $23 million in AIP funding going to Sea-Tac, Bellingham, Walla Walla, and Pullman-Moscow airports. In February 2020, she helped secure funding for Pullman to start a new nonstop route to Denver. In just the last couple of years, she has successfully secured $23 million in federal funding to support airport upgrades and the construction of a new runway at Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport. In 2017, she secured $5.2 million to make other critical improvements at the airport. Cantwell also recently helped secure funding to help establish nonstop air service between San Francisco and Pangborn Memorial Airport in Wenatchee.

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