SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has awarded the Syracuse Regional Airport Authority more than $2.5 million in federal funding for improvements at Syracuse Hancock International Airport.
U.S. Senators Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.), U.S. Representative Dan Maffei (D–DeWitt), and Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner made the announcement in a news release that Maffei’s office distributed last Friday.
The Airport Authority will use this grant to pave roads and to make upgrades to airport-storage facilities that house snow-removal equipment, according to the news release.
Hancock Airport will use the funding to make “needed infrastructure improvements,” Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner said in the news release.
“I am pleased by the continuing support the airport receives from our federal partners who recognize its value to the economic development and growth of our community,” said Miner.
The federal government has now awarded more than $10 million in funding for Syracuse Hancock International Airport since July 2013. The Business Journal News Network estimates the figure based on grant-dollar amounts provided in news releases that Maffei’s office distributed for the grant announcements.
The USDOT in mid-August awarded a grant of more than $1.7 million for storage improvements at the Syracuse airport.
That followed a grant award of $315,000 in late July for the Airport Authority to acquire land-easement access to properties in close proximity to the airport to remove trees and ensure safe takeoffs and landings in accordance with federal law.
The same agency in early June awarded the Airport Authority more than $1.8 million in funding for the construction of a new building at the airport, according to a Maffei news release.
Besides those grant announcements, the USDOT also announced more than $6 million in funding for improvements to Hancock Airport last summer.
It announced July 23, 2013 a nearly $1.6 million grant to help the airport pay for the purchase of a sand spreader, a snow plow, aircraft rescue and fire fighting suits, and improvements to the airport’s runway.
Then, just over a week later, the agency announced a $4.5 million grant to pay for the construction of a new remain-overnight apron and a new taxiway to help keep flights on time.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com