Airport Improvement Program

Reliever Airport Set-Aside Funds Could Be Redirected Gao ID: RCED-94-226 June 30, 1994

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) provides funding for projects for general aviation airports called "relievers." Congress created this set-aside to reduce congestion at commercial airports by improving reliever airports and to provide general aviation with additional access to airports. The reliever set-aside is at a crossroads. The conditions that the reliever set-aside was created to address do not exist today, largely because of a long and steady decline in general aviation traffic--a trend unforeseen when the set-aside was created. FAA acknowledges that the nation may have too many reliever airports but has not done any detailed studies or analysis to identify which relievers contribute to the national system of airports. Without data to identify and prioritize reliever airports, FAA may be providing funds to relievers that are not in a position to play a prominent role in the nation's airport system. With the appropriate information, FAA would be in a better position to target its resources to public-use airports that could enhance the nation's air transportation system.

GAO found that: (1) FAA does not consider general aviation to be a significant factor in congestion at commercial airports; (2) the 38-percent decrease in general aviation traffic from 1983 to 1991 can be attributed to an overall decline in general aviation activity, not the presence of reliever airports; (3) FAA often considers general aviation access excessive in areas where relievers are located; (4) diminishing general aviation traffic has resulted in competition among airports for the same general aviation users; (5) although FAA does not know whether reliever funding has actually reduced congestion or improved access, it plans to continue to designate 5 percent of all AIP funds for reliever projects; (6) FAA could reduce the number of airports designated as relievers so that only those that currently have the facilities to accommodate large general aviation aircraft would be included in the set-aside; and (7) FAA could eliminate the designation of AIP funds altogether and have current reliever airports compete with all other general aviation airports for general aviation development funds.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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