Airport Improvement Program

This fact sheet updates GAO's October 1993 report (GAO/RCED-94-14FS) on the allocation of Airport Improvement Program funds from 1982 through 1994 by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). FAA uses program funds to pay for projects that enhance capacity, safety, security, and noise mitigation at airports included in its National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems. From 1982 through 1994, FAA allocated about $16 billion for airport improvements at 2,780, or about 84 percent, of the nearly 3,300 airports eligible to receive these funds. This fact sheet discusses FAA's allocation of program funds by type of airport and by type of project during a 13-year period, emphasizing 1992 through 1994. GAO also includes information on airports' collection of passenger facility charges.

GAO found that: (1) between 1982 and 1994, FAA allocated about $16 billion in AIP funds for improvements at 2,780 airports; (2) 216 of the 545 eligible airports have collected $1.4 billion in PFC for capital development projects; (3) Congress reduced the AIP appropriation to $1.45 billion in 1995; (4) FAA estimates that PFC collections could increase from $850 million to $1 billion annually if eligible airports begin to collect the fees; (5) commercial service airports received about 75 percent of AIP allocations from 1992 to 1994 and are the only airports eligible to collect PFC; (6) FAA directed 65 percent of all AIP funds to on land acquisition projects and projects focusing on pavements on runways, taxiways, and aprons from 1992 to 1994; and (7) airports plan to use about 47 percent of PFC revenues for projects to develop terminals and improve airport access and about 21 percent of these revenues for debt servicing costs.