§9121 — Title 15 Commerce and Trade | U.S. Code

§9121 Relief for airports

Title 15 › Chapter CHAPTER 116— - CORONAVIRUS ECONOMIC STABILIZATION (CARES ACT) › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER III— - ECONOMIC STABILIZATION AND ASSISTANCE TO SEVERELY DISTRESSED SECTORS OF THE UNITED STATES ECONOMY › Part Part E— - Relief for Airports › § 9121

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Provides $8,000,000,000 in new money for airports to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus. The money is for fiscal year 2021 and can be spent until September 30, 2024. Funds must only be used for airport-related needs and cannot go to any airport that already received more than four years of operating funds for coronavirus in fiscal year 2020. Money is split into several pots with dollar limits and rules. Up to $6,492,000,000 goes to primary airports and some cargo airports for operations, staff, cleaning, sanitizing, janitorial work, fighting pathogens, and debt payments; these funds follow federal apportionment formulas and leftover amounts are shared by airports based on their 2019 passenger counts. Up to $608,000,000 is for airport development grants to cover a 100% federal share for certain projects; leftover amounts go to primary airports by 2019 enplanements. Up to $100,000,000 is for non-primary general aviation and commercial airports for the same kinds of costs and is split by categories in the national airport plan and then evenly among eligible airports. Up to $800,000,000 is for rent and minimum-guarantee relief for airport concessions at primary airports (at least $640,000,000 for eligible small concessions and at least $160,000,000 for eligible large concessions); these relief funds are allocated to primary airports by 2019 enplanements and must be provided starting March 21, 2021 until the grant amount is delivered, as allowed by law, with each concession getting a share based on its portion of total rent and guarantees. The FAA may keep up to 0.1% for administering and overseeing grants. Airports that take money must keep at least 90% of their March 27, 2020 workforce through September 30, 2021 (with adjustments for retirements or voluntary separations), unless the Secretary waives that rule for economic hardship or safety/security reasons; the rule does not apply to nonhub or nonprimary airports receiving funds, and failure to comply can trigger repayment. Eligible large and small concessions are defined by whether their average gross receipts over the prior three years are above or below $56,420,000, or if the concession is a joint venture.

Title 15, §9121

Commerce and Trade — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)In addition to amounts otherwise available, there is appropriated for fiscal year 2021, out of any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $8,000,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2024, for assistance to sponsors of airports, as such terms are defined in section 47102 of title 49, to be made available to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.

(2)Amounts made available under this section—

(A)may not be used for any purpose not directly related to the airport; and

(B)may not be provided to any airport that was allocated in excess of 4 years of operating funds to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus in fiscal year 2020.

(b)The following terms shall apply to the amounts made available under this section:

(1)(A)Not more than $6,492,000,000 shall be made available for primary airports, as such term is defined in section 47102 of title 49, and certain cargo airports, for costs related to operations, personnel, cleaning, sanitization, janitorial services, combating the spread of pathogens at the airport, and debt service payments.

(B)Amounts made available under this paragraph—

(i)shall not be subject to the reduced apportionments under section 47114(f) of title 49;

(ii)shall first be apportioned as set forth in section 47114(c)(1)(A), 47114(c)(1)(C)(i),11 See References in Text note below. 47114(c)(1)(C)(ii),1 47114(c)(2)(A), 47114(c)(2)(B), and 47114(c)(2)(E) 1 of title 49; and

(iii)shall not be subject to a maximum apportionment limit set forth in section 47114(c)(1)(B) of title 49.

(C)Any amount remaining after distribution under subparagraph (B) shall be distributed to the sponsor of each primary airport (as such term is defined in section 47102 of title 49) based on each such primary airport’s passenger enplanements compared to the total passenger enplanements of all such primary airports in calendar year 2019.

(2)(A)Not more than $608,000,000 allocated under subsection (a)(1) shall be available to pay a Federal share of 100 percent of the costs for any grant awarded in fiscal year 2021, or in fiscal year 2020 with less than a 100-percent Federal share, for an airport development project (as such term is defined in section 47102 of title 49).

(B)Any amount remaining under this paragraph shall be distributed as described in paragraph (1)(C).

(3)(A)Not more than $100,000,000 shall be made available for general aviation and commercial service airports that are not primary airports (as such terms are defined in section 47102 of title 49) for costs related to operations, personnel, cleaning, sanitization, janitorial services, combating the spread of pathogens at the airport, and debt service payments.

(B)Amounts made available under this paragraph shall be apportioned to each non-primary airport based on the categories published in the most current National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems, reflecting the percentage of the aggregate published eligible development costs for each such category, and then dividing the allocated funds evenly among the eligible airports in each category, rounding up to the nearest thousand dollars.

(C)Any amount remaining under this paragraph shall be distributed as described in paragraph (1)(C).

(4)(A)Not more than $800,000,000 shall be made available for sponsors of primary airports to provide relief from rent and minimum annual guarantees to airport concessions, of which at least $640,000,000 shall be available to provide relief to eligible small airport concessions and of which at least $160,000,000 shall be available to provide relief to eligible large airport concessions located at primary airports.

(B)The amounts made available for each set-aside in this paragraph shall be distributed to the sponsor of each primary airport (as such term is defined in section 47102 of title 49) based on each such primary airport’s passenger enplanements compared to the total passenger enplanements of all such primary airports in calendar year 2019.

(C)As a condition of approving a grant under this paragraph—

(i)the sponsor shall provide such relief from March 21, 2021, until the sponsor has provided relief equaling the total grant amount, to the extent practicable and to the extent permissible under State laws, local laws, and applicable trust indentures; and

(ii)for each set-aside, the sponsor shall provide relief from rent and minimum annual guarantee obligations to each eligible airport concession in an amount that reflects each eligible airport concession’s proportional share of the total amount of the rent and minimum annual guarantees of those eligible airport concessions at such airport.

(c)(1)The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration may retain up to 0.1 percent of the funds provided under this section to fund the award of, and oversight by the Administrator of, grants made under this section.

(2)(A)As a condition for receiving funds provided under this section, an airport shall continue to employ, through September 30, 2021, at least 90 percent of the number of individuals employed (after making adjustments for retirements or voluntary employee separations) by the airport as of March 27, 2020.

(B)The Secretary shall waive the workforce retention requirement if the Secretary determines that—

(i)the airport is experiencing economic hardship as a direct result of the requirement; or

(ii)the requirement reduces aviation safety or security.

(C)The workforce retention requirement shall not apply to nonhub airports or nonprimary airports receiving funds under this section.

(D)Any financial assistance provided under this section to an airport that fails to comply with the workforce retention requirement described in subparagraph (A), and does not otherwise qualify for a waiver or exception under this paragraph, shall be subject to clawback by the Secretary.

(d)In this section:

(1)The term “eligible large airport concession” means a concession (as defined in section 23.3 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations), that is in-terminal and has maximum gross receipts, averaged over the previous three fiscal years, of more than $56,420,000.

(2)The term “eligible small airport concession” means a concession (as defined in section 23.3 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations), that is in-terminal and—

(A)a small business with maximum gross receipts, averaged over the previous 3 fiscal years, of less than $56,420,000; or

(B)is a joint venture (as defined in section 23.3 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations).

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

section 47114(c)(1)(C)(i) and 47114(c)(1)(C)(ii) of title 49, referred to in subsec. (b)(1)(B)(ii), were omitted in the general amendment of subsec. (c)(1) of section 47114 of title 49 by Pub. L. 118–63, title VII, § 712(a)(1),

May 16, 2024, 138 Stat. 1254. The new subsec. (c)(1)(C) of section 47114 of title 49 does not contain any clauses. section 47114(c)(2)(E) of title 49, referred to in subsec. (b)(1)(B)(ii), was redesignated section 47114(c)(2)(D) of title 49 by Pub. L. 118–63, title VII, § 712(a)(2)(C),

May 16, 2024, 138 Stat. 1255. Codification Section was enacted as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, and not as part of the CARES Act which in part comprises this chapter.