RDU airport receives another big federal grant to help make up for COVID-19 losses
Raleigh-Durham International Airport will receive another infusion of cash from the federal government to help make up for losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
RDU will receive nearly $50.7 million from the American Rescue Plan Act approved by Congress in March and signed into law by President Joe Biden. The money is RDU’s share of $8 billion the act provides through the Federal Aviation Administration to help U.S. airports recover from the drop in revenue when COVID-19 severely curtailed air travel.
The Triangle’s two Democratic members of Congress, Deborah Ross of Raleigh and David Price of Durham, announced the grant this week.
The money must be used to cover salaries and other operating costs and make debt payments. It can’t be used for construction projects. RDU slashed its budget by nearly 45% last year, which included shelving $96 million in capital projects, such as the expansion of the security checkpoint in Terminal 2 and the addition of four gates in Terminal 1.
The federal government has now given RDU $100 million to help it get through the pandemic. The airport received $49.5 million through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security or CARES Act last year, as well as nearly $18 million from the state. That money accounted for about 45% of RDU’s budget last year.
Government restrictions and a fear of confined spaces decimated air travel in the spring of 2020; only about 40,000 passengers passed through RDU in April, about as many as during a normal day before the pandemic.
Business has rebounded but still remains about a third below pre-pandemic levels. Earlier this month, the airport and a coalition of Triangle companies unveiled a broadcast and print advertising campaign to encourage people to fly again and help the region’s economic recovery. The campaign’s theme is “Carry On.”
