• Aviation Policy, Planning & Environment Topics
  • Aircraft Noise Issues
  • Aircraft Noise Levels
  • Airport Noise Compatibility Planning Toolkit
  • Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF)
  • Emissions & Noise
  • Insurance Program
  • Key Officials
  • Models
  • Partnerships
  • Special Flight Authorization (Noise)
  • Supersonic Aircraft Noise

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• Appropriations: Appropriations, created by an act of Congress, allow FAA to incur obligations and make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes.



• Budget Authority: Authority provided by Congress to enter into obligations resulting in immediate or future outlays of Federal funds. Budget authority may be one year or multiyear. Budget authority for FAA programs consists of appropriations and contract authority.



• Cash Balance: The available cash or liquid Treasury notes remaining in the Trust Fund. It is a measure of all revenues received (taxes, interest, and adjustments) minus all cash outlays. The cash balance of the Trust Fund consists of both “committed” and “uncommitted” funds.



• Committed Balance: The budget authority issued by Congress, against the Trust Fund, not yet liquidated through outlays. This committed money consists of both “obligated” and “unobligated” amounts.



• Contract Authority: Allows FAA to enter into contracts before appropriations. For FAA, this most frequently applies to AIP (Airport Improvement funds).



• Obligations: Spending commitments made against budget authority. These reflect the actual amounts of orders placed, contracts awarded, services received, and similar transactions requiring payments. Obligations made in a fiscal year will not necessarily reflect cash outlays made in that year. For Facilities & Equipment, obligations are liquidated over several years.



• Uncommitted Balance: This reflects surplus revenues in the Trust Fund against which no commitments, in the form of budget authority, have been made. This measure provides the most widely accepted estimates of the money available in the Trust Fund for new appropriations for aviation purposes.



• Unobligated Balance: The portion of budget authority not designated as payment for specific products or services. In one-year accounts, the unobligated balance expires at the end of the fiscal year it was made available. In multiyear accounts, it remains available for obligation for the specified number of years.