In all, more than $30 million was slated to Ohio airports, via the Airport Coronavirus Relief Program, created within an end-of-year federal spending agreement, Portman’s office said.
“The aviation industry’s recovery is critical to our nation’s economy. During this pandemic, the sharp decline in air travel left the industry in an uncertain economic position,” Portman said. “I’m pleased to see this continued support for our airports as they ramp up services to meet the increasing demands of air travel as our country continues on the path to recovery.”
Other Ohio airports and the grants they are slated to receive include:
John Glenn Columbus International-$8,619,383
Akron-Canton Regional-$3,038,242
Eugene F Kranz Toledo Express-$1,468,094
Cleveland-Hopkins International-$9,734,529
Rickenbacker International-$2,049,288
Air travel is slowly normalizing. The Transportation Security Administration reported recently that more than 1.5 million people were screened during Easter weekend at airport checkpoints, which is seen as a record in the past year.
Linda Hughes, Dayton International Airport air service administrator, recently said the local airport generally has mirrored national trends. Traffic in the area is still down about 50% compared to the era before the pandemic.
“Things are slowly coming back,” Hughes told the Dayton Daily News last month.
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