The Federal Aviation Administration is handing out $205 million in supplemental funding for infrastructure grants to small airports in 34 states, with more than half of them serving rural communities and general aviation needs.

[Above photo courtesy of the Dept. of Defense]

Those funds are in addition to the $3.31 billion already awarded in regular Airport Improvement Program or AIP funding during fiscal year 2018.

The agency said in a statement on Sept. 27 that this first “increment” of supplemental funding provides grants to projects at 37 airports that range from runway reconstruction and rehabilitation to the maintenance of taxiways, aprons, and terminals.

FAA added that Congress provided the supplemental funding through the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, also known as the “omnibus” spending bill passed by Congress in March.

Additionally, the FAA published a Federal Register notice back on July 9, which explains the statutory rules, evaluation criteria, and the submission process required to obtain a supplemental infrastructure grants, the remainder of which – roughly $1 billion – will be awarded during fiscal years 2019 and 2020, based on requests submitted by October 31.