Des Moines International Airport. (Photo by Perry Beeman/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded Iowa airports about $17.2 million in grants across 2024 for repairs and new construction.
Of the 29 different Iowa airports receiving grants, three were awarded at least $1 million. Sioux Gateway Airport in Sioux City received slightly over $1 million, Dubuque Regional Airport received about $2.8 million and Des Moines International Airport received around $5.5 million.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the airport infrastructure grants from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law can be invested in runways, safety or sustainability projects, airport-transit connections, new terminals or roadway projects. Since the law’s passage, the grants have totaled nearly $9 billion.
The Dubuque Regional Airport, Perry Municipal Airport, Sioux Gateway Airport and Cherokee County Regional Airport all have received two different grants from this program in 2024.
Des Moines airport terminal
The Des Moines International Airport will use the $5.5 million grant to help build the airport’s newest terminal.
The airport’s new terminal was the focus of previous years’ grants when the airport was awarded about $5 million in 2022 and $10.8 million in 2023.
The money from this year’s grant will specifically help frame and glaze the exterior walls of one of the new buildings for the terminal, airport Executive Director Kevin Foley said.
Foley said the goal of the new terminal is to both meet the growing demand for the airport and attract more flights to Des Moines.
“This $5.4 million allows us to keep the project moving forward,” Foley said. “We desperately needed a new terminal to accommodate the market here in Des Moines and this funding helps us achieve that goal.”
All of the money has gone toward the first phase of the terminal’s construction, Foley added. Phase 1A is expected to be completed by late 2026.
Phase two of the project is currently under design with the budget estimates and a decision on whether to move forward coming later, Foley said.
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New runways, taxilanes, land and more
Of the $16.8 million in grants awarded this year to Iowa airports, purchasing new equipment or constructing new features for the airports accounts for the majority of funding. Not including the $5.5 million from the Des Moines airport project, about $6.6 million is going toward those projects.
Funding for the Arthur N. Neu Airport, Cherokee County Regional Airport and Muscatine Municipal Airport will help install runway visual guidance systems to help pilots locate and line themselves up on the runway.
The Iowa City Municipal Airport plans to purchase over $400,000 worth of solar panels. The solar panels will reduce the airport’s greenhouse gas emissions while saving money on utility bills.
“We help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, the carbon dioxide, things like that. Any time we can use renewable energy versus burning fossil fuels, I think that helps everybody,” Airport Manager Michael Tharp told KCRG in February.
The Sioux County Regional Airport received over $123,000 to purchase nearby land for future development.
Several other airports plan to spend nearly $2 million to improve, extend or build new hangars for their aircraft.
Purchasing snow removal equipment to clear runways for aircraft is planned with grant money for the Marshalltown Municipal Airport, Sioux Gateway Airport and the Perry Municipal Airport.
Airport reconstructions and repairs
About $5.2 million of the grants awarded this year are going toward the repair or replacement of airport infrastructure.
The Dubuque Regional Airport will spend most of the grant money it received to reconstruct its apron where aircraft are parked, and passengers unload and load onto planes.
“General aviation is something that the public may not see or experience, but it’s a vital part of our operations,” Dubuque Regional Airport Director Todd Dalsing said in a press release. “This essential federal funding will allow us to continue to offer top-of-the-line service for the private aircraft that utilize DBQ.”
Guthrie County Regional Airport and Ames Municipal Airport are also using grant funding, $336,000 and $240,000 respectively, to reconstruct their airport aprons.
Taxilanes, a pathway connecting hangars, aprons and other parts of the airport for aircraft, require repair at multiple Iowa airports.
The Perry Municipal Airport, Sioux Gateway Airport, Clinton Municipal Airport, Davenport Municipal Airport and Iowa Falls Municipal Airport will spend about $1.1 million to repair their taxilanes.
Most of the other repairs are for repaving pavements near taxiways or runways. Over $900,000 will be spent by Grinnell Regional Airport, Fort Madison Municipal Airport and Estherville Municipal Airport to repave pavements.
Complete list of airports receiving funding can be found here .
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