When President Barack Obama signed legislation Friday afternoon restoring full funding to the Federal Aviation Administration, it guaranteed that money was available to complete construction of the terminal expansion at Northwest Florida Regional Airport.
However, the legislation is just a temporary reprieve that expires Sept. 16, which could disrupt funding for the $11.4 million renovation and construction project at Bob Sikes Airport in Crestview.
Congress would have to reach a long-term authorization plan for the FAA before the Sept. 16 deadline to guarantee continued funding for that work and many other airport construction jobs around the country.
“Since it’s going to last longer and it’s more complex, there is some concern on my part of what’s going to happen in late September,” said Greg Donovan, Okaloosa County’s airports director.
“There was a potential of some of that work being disrupted,” he added. “The fact that (Obama signed) an extension is good news. That means that project’s timeline should continue, and we’re going to continue to monitor it.”
The expansion of the terminal at Northwest Florida Regional will add two more passenger gates and expand the concourse by 5,500 square feet. The expansion is expected to cost $5.7 million and is being funded partly by an FAA grant.
Construction is expected to be completed the second week of October.
The Bob Sikes project is even larger. It includes widening and resurfacing the taxiway that runs parallel to the runway, building new aprons and installing a new stormwater retention system. The $11.7 million job is being funded partly through a $5.1 million FAA grant and is expected to be completed in December.
With the Bob Sikes project taking longer to complete, Donovan said it was more at risk to future FAA shutdowns.
Most airports are self-sustaining operations that receive funds from the FAA based on the number of passengers they have or the amount of fuel purchased at a general aviation airport. However, there are some smaller airports that the federal government subsidizes, and Democrats and Republicans are at odds over whether to continue to do so.
Donovan said that impasse led to the partial shutdown of the FAA that is now expected to end Monday and allow about 4,000 furloughed employees to return to work.
Although funding for the terminal expansion at Northwest Florida Regional and the construction at Bob Sikes has been approved, work could still have been stopped because the FAA staff that oversees the dispersal of funds was furloughed.
The Crestview project again could be at risk of a work stoppage if Congress does not agree to a long-term authorization plan for the FAA before Sept. 16.
Even if the Bob Sikes project is completed without any delays because of FAA furloughs, local airports could still be hurt by Congress’ inability to come to an agreement on authorizing FAA funding.
After the FAA was partially shutdown in late July, it stopped collecting the passenger tax charged to each ticket. Because of the partial shutdown, the FAA lost about $400 million in revenue that is used to fund airport construction projects.
“It can really derail a very good system,” Donovan said.
Congress has not approved a multi-year authorization for FAA operations in four years, Donovan said. Instead, the legislation that Obama signed Friday was the 21st consecutive short-term extension the FAA has received.
“The bottom line on this is the airports systems nationwide are self funding, it’s not part of a general tax or income taxes,” Donovan said. “If you buy an airline ticket or you buy fuel for your general aviation aircraft, you’re contributing to the system.
“It’s absolutely asinine to do short-term extensions on a completely viable system,” he added. “They need to concentrate their attention on the real problems and let the aviation system do what works well.”
Source: http://www.nwfdailynews.com
No comments:
Post a Comment