Washington – The U.S. Transportation Department on Tuesday awarded nearly 10 billion dollars to U.S. airports struggling with a massive falloff in travel demand because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Congress approved the money late last month and the department has previously awarded 25 billion dollars to public transit systems and one billion dollars to U.S. passenger railroad Amtrak.
The awards include 377 million dollars for Chicago’s two major airports, 338 million dollars for Atlanta, 323 dollars for Los Angeles, 299 million dollars for Dallas-Fort Worth and 295 million dollars for New York’s two major airports.
Others are 255 million dollars for San Francisco, 206 million dollars for Miami, 147 million dollars for Newark, New Jersey; 143 million dollars for Washington-Dulles and 142 million dollars for Detroit.
“This 10 billion dollars in emergency resources will help fund the continued operations of our nation’s airports during this crisis and save workers’ jobs,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao in a statement.
Airports can use the funds for capital expenditures, operating expenses including payroll and utilities and debt payments.
(Reuters/NAN)
