Department of Transportation: FY 2008 Small Community Air Service Development Program Grants

Basic criteria. Eligible applicants are those communities that (1) are served by an airport that was not larger than a small hub airport for calendar year 1997 and (2) have insufficient air service or unreasonably high airfares. Communities that do not currently have commercial air service are also eligible, but they must have met or be able to meet in a reasonable period all necessary requirements of the Federal Aviation Administration for the type of service involved in their grant proposals. Communities served by medium and large hubs are not eligible to apply.

Essential Air Service communities may apply. Small communities that meet the basic criteria and currently receive subsidized air service under the Essential Air Service (EAS) program are eligible to apply for funds under the Small Community Program. Indeed, a number of EAS-subsidized communities applied in past years and some have received grant awards. However, grant awards to EAS-subsidized communities are limited to marketing or promotion projects that support existing or newly subsidized air services. Grant funds will not be authorized for EAS-subsidized communities to support any new air service. Furthermore, no funds will be authorized to support additional flights by EAS carriers or changes to those carriers’ existing schedules. These restrictions are necessary to avoid potentially adverse effects on EAS program subsidies and the operations of EAS carriers.

Please see full Order Soliciting Community Proposals for additional eligibility information.

By this order, the Department invites proposals from communities and/or consortia of communities interested in obtaining a federal grant under the Small Community Air Service Development Program (Small Community Program) to address air service and airfare problems in their communities. Proposals should be submitted in the above-referenced docket no later than June 6, 2008. Applicants must submit an Application for Federal Domestic Assistance (SF424), a standard federal government grant application form, at www.grants.gov and include their proposals as an attachment to the SF424. An application will not be deemed complete until and unless all required materials are filed by the June 6 deadline. (See Appendix C for additional information on filing form SF424.) Communities are reminded to register with Grants.gov early in the application period since the registration process can take up to 10 days to complete.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

The Small Community Program was established under the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR-21), P.L. 106-181, and reauthorized under the Vision 100-Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act, P.L. 108-176 (Vision 100). The program is designed to provide financial assistance to small communities to help them enhance their air service. The Department provides this assistance in the form of financial grants that are disbursed on a reimbursable basis. Under the Consolidated Appropriation Act, 2008 (P.L. 110-161), the Department received $10 million to carry out the Small Community Program.

The program is limited to a maximum of 40 grant awards, with a maximum of four grants per State, in each year the program is funded. There are no limits on the amounts of individual awards, and the amounts awarded will vary depending upon the features and merits of the proposals selected. Over the past six years, the Department’s individual grants have ranged from $20,000 to nearly $1.6 million. Authorized grant projects may include activities that extend over a multi-year period under a single grant award; however, grant funds are to be used in a timely manner. Generally speaking, individual grant awards have not exceeded a three-to-four-year period.