By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Transportation Department on Tuesday awarded nearly $10 billion 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 to public transit systems and $1 billion to U.S. passenger railroad Amtrak.
The awards include $377 million for Chicago’s two major airports, $338 million for Atlanta, $323 for Los Angeles, $299 million for Dallas-Fort Worth, $295 million for New York’s two major airports, $255 million for San Francisco, $206 million for Miami, $147 million for Newark, New Jersey; $143 million for Washington-Dulles and $142 million for Detroit.
“This $10 billion 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.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
