[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 23 (Thursday, February 3, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Page 6178]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-2381]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration


Deadline for Notification of Intent to Use the Airport 
Improvement Program (AIP) Primary, Cargo, and Nonprimary Entitlement 
Funds for Fiscal Year 2011

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announces February 
22, 2011, as the deadline for each airport sponsor to notify the FAA 
whether or not it will use its fiscal year 2011 entitlement funds 
available under Public Law 111-322 to accomplish Airport Improvement 
Program (AIP)-eligible projects that the sponsor previously identified 
through the Airports Capital Improvement Plan (ACIP) process during the 
preceding year. If a sponsor does not declare their intention regarding 
their fiscal year 2011 entitlement funds by February 22, 2011, FAA will 
be unable to take the necessary actions to award these funds, nor 
designate these funds as ``protected'' carryover funds. In addition, 
these funds will not be carried over without a legislative enactment 
that provides an additional AIP authorization and an extension of the 
FAA's spending authority from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund beyond 
March 31, 2011.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Frank J. San Martin, Manager, 
Airports Financial Assistance Division, APP-500, on (202) 267-3831.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title 49 of the United States Code, section 
47105(f), provides that the sponsor of each airport to which funds are 
apportioned shall notify the Secretary by such time and in a form as 
prescribed by the Secretary, of the sponsor's intent to apply for the 
funds apportioned to it (entitlements). This notice applies only to 
those airports that have had entitlement funds apportioned to them, 
except those nonprimary airports located in designated Block Grant 
States. Sponsors intending to apply for any of their available 
entitlement funds, including those unused from prior years, shall 
submit by February 22, 2011, a written indication to the designated 
Airports District Office (or Regional Office in regions without 
Airports District Offices) that they will submit a grant application 
prior to February 25, 2011, or by a prior date established by the 
designated Airport District or Regional Office.
    This notice is promulgated to expedite and prioritize the grant-
making process. In the past when there has been full-year funding for 
AIP, the FAA has established a deadline of May 1 for an airport sponsor 
to declare whether it will apply for, or defer use of its entitlement 
funding. Considering that Congress has authorized the AIP program only 
until March 31, 2011, i.e. into the middle of a fiscal year, the FAA is 
establishing February 22, 2011, as the deadline for each airport 
sponsor to notify the FAA whether or not it will use its fiscal year 
2011 entitlement funds.
    The AIP grant program is operating under the requirements of Public 
Law 111-329, the ``Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2010, Part IV'', 
enacted on December 22, 2010, which amends 49 U.S.C. 48103, to extend 
AIP through March 31, 2011. The FAA's expenditure authority from the 
Airport and Airway Trust Fund will also expire on March 31, 2011, in 
the absence of an additional statutory extension. Therefore, to avoid 
the risk of not being able to carryover funds if an additional 
extension is not enacted, and to allow sufficient time for accounting 
processing, AIP funds should be obligated in FAA's accounting records 
on or before March 17, 2011.
    Sponsors have three options available regarding AIP grants during 
this period. First, sponsors may elect to make an application for a 
grant based on entitlements currently available to them. Sponsors that 
elect to take such a grant must submit grant applications to the FAA no 
later than February 25, 2011, in order to meet the March 17, 2011 
obligation deadline. Second, sponsors may elect to wait until after the 
February 22, 2011 notification date for protection of carryover 
entitlements. However, if a sponsor does not declare their intention 
regarding the use of fiscal year 2011 entitlement funds by the February 
22, 2011 deadline, FAA will be unable to take the necessary actions to 
designate these as ``protected'' carryover funds. In addition, these 
funds would not be carried over without a legislative enactment that 
provides additional AIP authorization for fiscal year 2011 and extends 
the FAA's spending authority from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund 
beyond March 31, 2011. Third, sponsors may elect to declare their 
intention to carryover the entitlements by sending written notification 
of such intention by February 22, 2011. Unused carryover entitlements 
that have been deferred will be available in fiscal year 2012 pending 
legislative action to further extend authorization and appropriations.
    If a statutory extension beyond March 31, 2011 of the AIP program 
and the FAA's authority to make expenditures from the Trust Fund is 
enacted, additional entitlement funds may be available to sponsors. In 
that case, airport sponsors who did not previously declare their 
intention to carryover the entitlements must provide a written 
indication by May 1, 2011 to the designated Airports District Office 
(or Regional Office in regions without Airports District Offices) that 
they will either carryover or use their fiscal year 2011 entitlements 
by submitting a grant application by August 1, 2011.

    Issued in Washington, DC on January 28, 2011.
Frank J. San Martin,
Manager, Airports Financial Assistance Division, Office of Airport 
Planning and Programming.
[FR Doc. 2011-2381 Filed 2-2-11; 8:45 am]
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