United States Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao announced this week that Shreveport Regional Airport will receive a $300,000 award in a Small Community Air Service Development (SCASD) grant to help improve its airline service to the community.
“We are excited to receive these grant dollars that will allow the Airport Authority to increase the awareness of all that our regional airport has to offer,” said Mayor Ollie Tyler. “We will continue to compete for federal dollars for our city and we are grateful for the support in these efforts from our congressional delegation like, Senator Bill Cassidy.”
Along with the required local match of $150,000, the grant will be worth a total of $450,000. The grant will be used for marketing purposes to increase the public’s awareness of services and destinations available at Shreveport Regional Airport.
“Shreveport Regional Airport being awarded this SCASD grant is great news for the airport and the Ark-La-Tex region. This grant is an excellent tool for us to have when talking with airlines about offering new destinations from Shreveport Regional Airport,” said Henry Thompson, Director of Airports for the Shreveport Airport Authority.
The Ark-La-Tex Regional Air Service Alliance (RASA) will fund $75,000 of the required $150,000 local match.
“RASA is thrilled that the SCASD federal grant was awarded to our community and we look forward to further expand air service offerings at Shreveport Regional Airport,” said Tim Wilhite, President of the board for RASA.
As mandated by grant rules, Shreveport Regional Airport will fund $75,000 from its marketing budget. No city tax dollars are used to fund the airport’s budget.
The airport has been working with multiple airlines in efforts to add additional non-stop destinations from Shreveport, like Chicago, Austin, and Destin, Florida.
Shreveport is one of 16 communities across the country receiving a total of $9.9 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Small Community Air Service Development Program, which helps small communities develop their own solutions to local air service needs. The Department received 53 applications from 35 states.