AUSTIN, TX Continued advancements in technology and funding are steadily making the airport experience much more efficient and pleasurable. Before technology can occur, funding must be available, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been busy this year approving grants through their Airport Improvement Program (AIP) for transportation facilities ready to take on big and small projects.

Airports are entitled to a certain amount of AIP funding each year, based on passenger volume. If their capital project needs exceed their available entitlement funds, then the FAA can supplement their entitlements with discretionary funding. The U.S. Department of Transportation has been announcing hundreds of awards that the FAA has provided this year in airport infrastructure grants. Here are a few of the grant disbursements from Texas:

"¢ San Angelo Regional/Mathis Field in San Angelo, Texas, $3.1 million- Funding will be used to construct improvements to the taxiway system to enhance the safety of aircraft operations;

"¢ San Antonio International Airport in San Antonio, Texas, $6 million- Funds will be used to sound insulate homes near the airport;

"¢ Tyler Pounds Regional Airport in Tyler, Texas, $10.1 million- Funds will be used to repair a runway;

"¢ Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Austin, Texas, $10.8 million- Funds will be used for the expansion of the terminal apron to provide additional space for aircraft parking;

"¢ Jack Brooks Regional Airport in Beaumont, Texas, $3.3 million- Funds will be used to reconstruct Taxiway Delta;

"¢ Fort Worth Alliance Airport in Fort Worth, Texas, $10 million- Funds will be used to extend runways;

"¢ El Paso International in El Paso, Texas, $11.6 million- Funds will be used to reconstruct a runway;

"¢ Valley International in Harlingen, Texas, $2.1 million- Funds will be used to extend the taxiway;

"¢ Laredo International Airport in Laredo, Texas, $6 million- Funds will be used to repair the air cargo apron and widen a taxiway;

"¢ East Texas Regional, Longview, Texas, $525,060- Funds will be used to update an airport master plan study.

To date this year, the U.S. Department of Transportation has announced more than 1,300 new grants to nearly 1,200 airports for a total of $2 billion. These grants will provide funds for 546 runway projects and 459 taxiway projects that are important to the safety and efficiency of the nation's system of airports.

By Mary Scott Nabers, CEO of Strategic Partnerships, Inc.