PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

 

The Small Community Program was established by the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (Pub. L. No. 106-181), reauthorized by the Vision 100-Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act (Pub. L. No. 108-176), and subsequently reauthorized by the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (Pub. L. No. 112-95) as amended, the Disaster Tax Relief and Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2017 (Pub. L. No. 115-63), the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Pub. L. No. 115-254) (FAA 2018), and the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, Pub. L. No. 118-63, May 16, 2024 (FAA 2024). The program is codified at 49 U.S.C. § 41743. The program is designed to provide financial assistance to small communities to help them enhance their air service.

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The Department determines application eligibility as part of the Eligibility Review stage. Applicants and applications deemed ineligible at this stage will be disqualified. The Department will apply the criteria under Section C.1 as part of the Eligibility Review stage.Only public entities may apply for and serve as the legal sponsor of a grant under the Small Community Program. Private organizations cannot be the lead applicant. A community may file only one application for a grant, either individually or as part of a consortium.Consortium Applications: Both individual communities and consortia of communities are eligible for SCASDP funds. An application from a consortium of communities must be one that seeks to facilitate the efforts of the communities working together toward one joint grant project, with one joint objective, including the establishment of one entity to ensure that the joint objective is accomplished.Communities Without Existing Air Service: Communities that do not currently have commercial air service are eligible for SCASDP funds.Eligible Projects: The Department is authorized to award grants under 49 U.S.C. § 41743(d) to communities that seek to provide assistance to:• A U.S. air carrier to subsidize service to and from an underserved airport for a period not to exceed 3 years;• An underserved airport, or an airport where air service has been terminated or substantially reduced, to obtain service to and from the underserved airport; and/or• An underserved airport to implement such other measures as the Secretary, in consultation with such airport, considers appropriate to improve air service both in terms of the cost of such service to consumers and the availability of such service, including improving air service through marketing and promotion of air service and enhanced utilization of airport facilities. Eligibility Limitations:Hub Size: In order to satisfy the hub-size requirement set forth in 49 U.S.C. § 41743(c)(1)(A), the airport serving the community or consortium may not be larger than a small-hub airport, as determined using the FAA’s most recently published classification effective on the Department’s set application deadline (due date). Same Project Limitation: Under 49 U.S.C. § 41743(c)(4)(B), as amended by FAA 2024, a community or consortium may not receive a new grant to support the same project more than once in a five-year period from the date of execution of the previous/original grant. In assessing whether a previous recipient’s current application represents a new project, the Department will compare the goals and objectives of the previous grant, including the key components of the means by which those goals and objectives were to be achieved, to the current application. For example, if a community received an earlier grant to support a revenue guarantee for service to a particular destination or direction, a new application by that community for another revenue guarantee for service to the same destination or in the same direction would be subject to the five-year restriction, even if the revenue guarantee were structured differently or the type of carrier were different. However, a new application by such a previous recipient for service to a new destination or direction using a revenue guarantee, or for general marketing and promotion (including advertising and public relations) of the airport and the various services it offers, would be eligible. The Department recognizes that not all revenue guarantees, marketing agreements, studies, or other activities are of the same nature, and that if a subsequent application incorporates different goals or significantly different components, it may be sufficiently different to constitute a new project under 49 U.S.C. § 41743(c). Under 49 U.S.C. § 41743(e)(1), as amended by FAA 2018, the final scope of a project can be limited to only the elements that used funding or to only elements achieved, minimizing future project limitations on any idle components of the original scope.Beginning with FAA 2018, Congress authorized limited waivers of the Same Project Limitation. Under Section 41743(c)(4)(C), as amended by FAA 2024, the Secretary may waive the Five-Year Same Project Limitation, and thus make additional grants to a community or consortium of communities to participate in support of the same project within a five-year period, if the Secretary determines that communities “spent little or no money on [their] previous project or encountered industry or environmental challenges , due to circumstances that were reasonable beyond [their]control….” The Department will consider such waivers as part of complete and timely applications submitted in response to this Order. Communities seeking a waiver are asked to include in their application a discussion of the facts and circumstances that the Secretary should consider in applying the statutory test to their request, e.g., a full history of the previous grant and a documented and well-supported description of any applicable challenges encountered in the communities.Concurrent Grant Limitation: A community or consortium may have only one SCASDP grant at any time. If a community or consortium applies for a subsequent SCASDP grant when its current grant has not yet expired, that community/consortium must notify the Department of its intent to terminate the current SCASDP grant, and if the community/consortium is selected for a new grant, such termination must take place prior to entering into the new grant agreement. Each beneficiary of a grant agreement under SCASDP is subject to this limitation; in other words, each airport or other government entity, including a State department of transportation, that receives a benefit from an active SCASDP grant, whether individually or part of a consortium, may not receive another SCASDP grant until the active grant is terminated. In addition, for consortium member applicants, permission must be granted from both the grant sponsor and the Department to withdraw from the current SCASDP grant before that consortium member will be deemed eligible to receive a subsequent SCASDP grant.No Direct Benefits to Air Carriers: SCASDP provides financial assistance to eligible communities and is not intended to benefit any specific air carrier (other than through a revenue guarantee agreement or carrier-implemented marketing program). To that end, projects seeking funds to support the purchase of aircraft, the establishment of a new air carrier, or other similar direct benefits to an air carrier or a company seeking to become an air carrier are not eligible under SCASDP. Airport Capital Improvement Projects: Airport capital improvement projects, including, but not limited to, runway expansions and enhancements, the construction of additional aircraft gates, and other airport terminal expansions and reconfigurations are ineligible for funding under SCASDP. Airports seeking funding for airport capital improvement projects may want to consult with their local FAA Regional Office to discuss potential eligibility for grants under the Airport Improvement Program.Essential Air Service Communities: Small communities that currently receive subsidized air service under the Essential Air Service (EAS) or Alternate Essential Air Service (AEAS) program will not be considered eligible for SCASDP funds. Specifically, the Department will not deem eligible for consideration a project that includes service to a subsidized EAS point (or a point receiving AEAS funding), whether it is a point of origin, an intermediate point (for example, on a one-stop service), or a destination point on the proposed service.Finally, the EAS statute (49 U.S.C. § 41733(c)(1)(D)) requires that the Department consider whether an air carrier has included a marketing plan in its proposal to provide subsidized EAS as part of the carrier selection criteria. In light of this and the scarcity of SCASDP funds, the Department will not consider awarding additional Federal support under SCASDP for the marketing of subsidized EAS air service.2. Cost Sharing or MatchingCost sharing or matching is not required for applications. However, applications that provide multiple levels of contributions (State and/or local cash and/or in-kind contributions) will be viewed more favorably. See Section E.8 (“Local Contributions”).

Vince Corsaro Transportation Analyst Phone 202-366-1842