The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 has received some media attention for requiring standards for airline seat widths, establishing new conditions for recreation use of drones, prohibiting passengers from being bumped from flights once they’ve boarded, and requiring airlines to improve protocols for informing customers about flight delays.

But, in regard to Spokane International Airport, the act, which President Trump signed into law last week, has some hits and a big miss, meaning there’s still some work to do in support of the airport before the next reauthorization.

The miss: The act doesn’t authorize one measure that Spokane International Airport CEO Larry Krauter and other Spokane-area business advocates lobbied for—the ability to increase passenger facility charges.

As a growing airport and a vital component of the Spokane area’s economic expansion, Spokane International Airport could use a boost in revenue from such fees to help accelerate improvements that will be needed to raise the level of service it provides our community.

The fees have been capped since 2001 at $4.50 a passenger.

Airports use such fees to fund FAA-approved projects that enhance safety, security, or capacity, reduce noise, or increase competition among air carriers.

For Spokane International Airport, the charges provide an important funding source that reduces the airport’s dependency on long-term debt obligations. For example, the airport has directed such fees to complete the $1.8 million terminal area plan project and the $2.1 million elevator upgrades project.

Among the hits, the act does allocate $90 billion to federal aviation programs over the next five years, and some of the funding no doubt will go to projects at Spokane International Airport and other Inland Northwest airports, such as the $15.7 million in airport improvement funds announced in June for Spokane International Airport to go toward taxiway rehabilitation and lighting and installing airfield guidance signs.

Krauter says other aspects of the FAA reauthorization that will benefit Spokane International Airport include:

•Cost-benefit reforms for the FAA Contract Tower Program that will help protect the contract tower at Felts Field against closure.

•Extension of the Contract Weather Observer program through 2023, which Krauter says is critical to maintaining aviation safety.

•Funding for the Small Community Air Service Development program through which Krauter says Spokane International Airport might apply for a key nonstop route such as the nonstop service to LAX that was established in 2013.

•Prioritization of construction grants for cold-weather airports, which benefits the construction sector and the airport alike.

•Reduction of certain federal regulations regarding airports’ abilities to acquire, transfer, or dispose of nonfederal land. That, Krauter says, will help reduce administrative complexity as Spokane International Airport seeks to develop airport property.

Part of the intent of the reauthorization is to provide reliable, predictable funding for the FAA to invest in priorities, and it’s the first five-year reauthorization in about three decades, following a series of short-term extensions since the last reauthorization act expired in 2016.

Despite the stability and predictability that the FAA reauthorization provides, there’s still work to do, as airport officials and supporters here hope to continue to lobby Congress to modernize the passenger facility changes in order to pursue a more efficient funding strategy for future terminal renovations and expansions.