Higgins: $22.2 million-plus delivered to Buffalo & Niagara Falls airports

American Rescue Plan funding provides economic relief for airport operations & concessions

Congressman Brian Higgins on Tuesday announced more than $22.2 million in American Rescue Plan funding has been awarded to the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) to provide economic relief for airport operations and concessions to address lost revenue due to the pandemic.

Higgins said, “These resources will support local jobs and allow Western New York airports to come back even stronger as we begin to return to prepandemic travel levels.”

“We are so grateful to Congressman Higgins who has successfully secured this badly needed local funding for our airports, this support is critical to our aviation operations,” said Kim Minkel, NFTA executive director. “With our passenger traffic down due to COVID, coupled by the U.S. and Canadian border closure, the funding will ensure we can continue to provide aviation services to those traveling to and from Western New York, and that our airports will be well positioned to play an important role in the community’s postpandemic economic recovery.”

Below is a summary of the funding awards released by the U.S. Department of Transportation:

Higgins’ team said the NFTA saw an 85% decrease in passenger traffic during the height of the pandemic. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint travel numbers show airport travel is beginning to return, following close to two years of drastically reduced travel related to the pandemic.

The American Rescue Plan, supported by Higgins and signed into law in March, included $8 billion to help airports recover from the pandemic. The funding is intended to provide relief to keep airports open and operating, including the maintenance of airport-related employment.