Nelson Introduces Airport Relief Act By Klark Byrd kbyrd@suntelegraph.com SIDNEY - Sen. Ben Nelson on Monday introduced the Small Airport Relief Act of 2009, which would ensure current federal funding levels for rural airports to help them remain stable during the economic downturn. While that relief is planned to help the nearby airports in Scottsbluff, Kearney and North Platte, officials with the Sidney Municipal Airport/Lloyd W. Carr Field Airport said it most likely won’t provide help for them. “I don’t think it will affect us,” said Harold Perkins, chairman of the Airport Authority. Manager Edwin Nelson said the downturn of the economy has affected business at the airport, but it remains busy. “Traffic has dropped dramatically,” Nelson told The Sidney Sun-Telegraph. “We don’t have passenger service here. We have two freighters a day and Cabela’s jets are here. We usually have 10,000 operations a year. An operation is either a take-off or a landing. We’re down to about 8,000 now.” The airport is seeing less activity from recreational flyers than in the past, Nelson said. That’s because most of the recreational flyers tend to buy planes for about the same cost as that of a car, and they must budget their money for fuel. With the economic downturn, he said they just aren’t flying like they were. “It’s not a rich man’s sport,” he said. “They budget their funds like you and I do.” Nelson said the airport does receive small entitlements, but those are applied for through the Federal Aviation Administration. He said he would like to see more aviation-friendly officials in both the public and private sectors. The Small Airport Relief Act of 2009 was proposed because it was feared that without legislation, multiple Nebraska airports would stand to lose a significant amount of funding should they fall below the threshold required to qualify for $1 million in federal assistance through the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) in 2009. The Senator wrote the Federal Aviation Administration about the same funding issue last week. “Rural airports are an economic engine for the communities they serve,” said Sen. Nelson. “This legislation will keep Nebraska’s rural airports upgraded, modern and safe. Rural airports are counting on these funds. These tough times are, hopefully, temporary and rural airports shouldn’t be penalized by losing funds they need for runway work, security upgrades or other improvements to remain modern and up to date.” The Small Airport Relief Act instructs the Secretary of Transportation to determine AIP funding levels in fiscal years 2011 and 2012 based on passenger boardings during calendar year 2008 because of the harm placed on airports as a result of the financial crisis. Currently, airports are required to have 10,000 enplanements in order to qualify for $1 million in federal funds as part of the AIP. Airports that do not reach 10,000 enplanements receive $150,000. This bill would place a temporary moratorium on that 10,000 enplanement requirement. Funding levels for AIP are determined by enplanement totals during the calendar year, while funding is provided based on the next corresponding fiscal year. In Nebraska, the airports in Scottsbluff, Kearney, and North Platte could be affected by the temporary moratorium to the AIP funding formula. Airports in a number of other rural states such as Alaska and Kansas could be affected by the formula as well. Sen. Nelson is seeking cosponsors for his legislation. Previously, the senator introduced a successful bill following the post- 9/11 air passenger decline that extended AIP funding to airports that dipped below the 10,000 enplanements threshold. Sen. Nelson also introduced legislation in the 110th Congress to require the Department of Transportation to work with the Governor or appropriate state transportation officials to determine the most common route traveled to a medium or large hub airport when determining Essential Air Service airport qualifications, which are used to determine federal funding eligibility. In the 110th and 109th Congresses, Sen. Nelson co-sponsored legislation to repeal a program that would have resulted in a 10 percent reduction in funding to certain rural airports.