Small Community Air Service Development Program

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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 Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 (P.L. 111-8), the Department received up to $8 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 eight 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.

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