Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport will receive nearly $6.5 million in federal funding to improve the safety of the airport aprons and taxiways.

The $6,481,875 is part of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Airport Infrastructure Grant program.

Ronald Mathieu, CEO of the airport, said the funding will “help us maintain and rehab our aeronautical services to ensure that every aspect of the airport is operated and maintained in a way intended to ensure the safety of all of our passengers and all aircraft operations on the airfield.”

He continued, “You’ll see it’s almost an entire area of taxiway that’s restored. Without these funds, we couldn’t do this as one project. We’d have to be able to squeeze this in wherever we could, taking all of the other projects that we have to do into consideration.”

The project will restore 15,540 square yards of the existing overflow apron pavement and 5,200 feet of taxiways to maintain the structural integrity of the pavement and minimize foreign object debris.

“We have a pavement management system where we look at the life expectancy and all of our aeronautical services,” Mathieu said. “And before we get to the point where major rehab may be necessary, we’ve identified it, we’ve designed it, how to rehab it and reinforce it, and we’re able to identify funds through the FAA to go forward and do that work.”

Ronald Mathieu, president and CEO of Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, inside the airport terminal. Mathieu said airlines are adding flights at the airport as ridership numbers increase. (Amarr Croskey / The Birmingham Times)

Darlene Wilson, chair of the Birmingham Airport Authority, said, “We are very committed to pursuing projects that extend the life of paved surfaces and help ensure a safe operating environment for the airlines, the military and our general aviation customers. … We appreciate the support we get from Congresswoman Terri Sewell and from the entire Alabama delegation in Washington.”

Sewell said the project is another example of “how the infrastructure law is delivering for our communities here in Alabama and a testament to what we can achieve when we put people over politics.”

So far, $2.5 billion in transportation funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has been announced for Alabama, including $39.5 million for Alabama airports.

Find a comprehensive breakdown of funding here.

In another matter, the airport announced the number of passengers boarding flights in February increased by 13% over February 2022. That followed another large increase in January, when traffic was up 17% over the same period in 2022.

“This trend is very encouraging as we engage in ongoing talks with the airlines,” Wilson said. “We have worked diligently to show the airlines that this region needs additional flights to accommodate growing demand. Nothing proves that point more than the increases in traffic we’ve seen so far this year.”

Airlines are responding to the uptick in traffic in Birmingham by adding flights to their schedules. These additions give travelers more nonstop choices and better connectivity when they fly.

Delta Air Lines is adding:

• Two more daily nonstop flights to New York’s LaGuardia Airport between now and June.
• A second daily nonstop to Detroit, also in June.
• A ninth daily flight to Atlanta, starting in June.

Southwest Airlines is adding:

• Nonstop service to Las Vegas on Sundays starting in July (to complement the current Saturday service).
• Daily nonstops to Las Vegas beginning in October.
• A second daily nonstop to Orlando and a third on Saturdays, also in October.

American Airlines will begin its first nonstop to LaGuardia in May.

“The more we use the service provided by the airlines, the better our chances of getting more in the future,” Wilson said. “The airlines that serve BHM are showing a tremendous amount of confidence in this market, and we are just getting started.”

This story originally was published by the Birmingham Times.