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U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine 1st District
Updated: December 9, 2021
5 Maine airports to share $187K in federal funding
Courtesy / Wiscasset Municipal Airport
Wiscasset Municipal Airport has received a $32,000 grant from the American Rescue Plan.
Five Maine regional airports have been awarded a combined $187,000 in federal grants to cover costs related to operations, personnel, cleaning, sanitization, debt service and combating the spread of pathogens.
The awards, through the Federal Aviation Administration with funds from the American Rescue Plan, were announced Wednesday in a press release from the office of U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine 1st District.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, it’s been clear that our airports need additional support to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus," Pingree said in the release.
"Ensuring our travel hubs have the resources they need to follow health safety protocols is essential in our continued fight against COVID and the spread of its variants. Airports need this federal support so they can continue to limit those dangers as much as possible,” she added.
“Smaller airports in particular have been economically strained as they work to ensure employees’ and travelers’ safety. Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, which I proudly helped pass, relief like this is continuing to help us defeat this virus.”
The funds will be allocated as follows: Waterville Robert Lafleur Airport, $32,000; Augusta State Airport, $59,000; Biddeford Municipal Airport, $32,000; Brunswick Executive Airport, $32,000; and Wiscasset Municipal Airport, $32,000.
A report released last month by Airports Council International warned that COVID-19 "remains an existential crisis for airports, airlines and their commercial partners, and the aviation industry needs support and practical policy decisions from government."
The Montreal-based trade organization also said that it remains cautiously optimistic about the industry's future despite the pandemic, and advocates the importance of a risk-based approach to managing the recovery of the aviation industry.
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