75 Years of Airport Grants
On May 13, 1946, President Harry Truman signed the Federal Airport Act that established the Federal-Aid Airport Program, the first peacetime program of financial aid aimed exclusively at promoting development of the nation's civil airports.
Since that first award 75 years ago, the federal government has distributed $96 billion to fund 82,308 airport projects through three different grant programs: the original Federal-Aid Airport Program, the Federal Development Aid Program begun in 1970, and the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) since 1982.
Since the creation of the Airport Improvement Program, the federal government has distributed more than $90 billion in about 65,500 grants.