The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill that includes a provision to make the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport a “primary airport,” which would make it eligible for additional federal funding.

The House included the provision for the airport, located in Vienna, in a bill to reauthorize funding for Federal Aviation Administration programs as well as aviation safety and infrastructure programs for the next five years, said U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Bain-bridge, whose district includes all of Trumbull County.

Joyce and U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, whose district includes all of Mahoning and Columbiana counties, introduced a separate bill in April to designate Youngstown-Warren as a primary airport.

Instead, it was included in the FAA reauthorization bill Thursday.

Without the designation, the airport is missing out on $850,000 per year in FAA funding for maintenance, planning and development. The adjacent Youngstown Air Reserve Station uses the runways.

Joyce said the designation “will help steer funding toward a critical infrastructure need and ensure our men and women on the air base have the appropriate resources. I am proud to see this legislation included as part of the reauthorization bill to support the mission of the 910th Airlift Wing and bolster economic growth in the Mahoning Valley.”

COMMERCIAL SERVICE

When the airport lost its last commercial air service, Allegiant Air, in January 2018, the FAA removed its primary airport designation.

When that happened, the FAA reduced the annual maintenance funding at the airport from $1 million to $150,000, said Anthony Trevena, executive director of the Western Reserve Port Authority, which operates the airport.

“We’ve been losing $850,000 annually that will be restored if this is signed into law,” he said. “This is huge. It’s an absolutely big deal.”

Youngstown-Warren is the only commercial airport in the country with an air reserve station that doesn’t have commercial air service.

“No matter how much use the runways get from military planes, we are only getting $150,000,” Trevena said. “Our plan is to continue to fight for commercial air traffic. This is a great insurance policy to have. Hopefully the Senate passes similar language and it gets signed by the president.”

“It is certainly welcome news that the House-passed FAA reauthorization legislation includes an FAA primary airport designation for the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport and the Youngstown Air Reserve Station,” Johnson said.

He added: “It’s an important first step toward making this a reality. My hope is that the Senate agrees and, working together, we can ensure this critical designation for the Mahoning Valley’s airport is made permanent.”

STILL NEEDS SENATE

The designation still needs to get approval from the Senate.

U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, and J.D. Vance, R-Cincinnati, introduced companion legislation in April for the airport to get the designation.

The Ohio Legislature approved the state budget June 30 that includes $3 million for the airport to use as local matches to get greater federal funds for improvements.

The airport received a $5 million federal earmark last year and is seeking an $8 million earmark through Brown. The $13 million combined amount would resurface the airport’s main runway.

The airport is required to come up with a 10 percent match, which would come from the $3 million in state funds, Trevena said.

The airport also is applying for an $8 million federal grant to resurface its main taxiway and would use the state funds as the 10 percent match.

The need for the improvements takes on greater importance with eight new C-130J Super Hercules aircrafts coming to YARS. The planes cost about $1 billion in total.

The base will get two planes about a year from now. Then there will be a 14-month gap before the next plane arrives. After that, a new plane will be delivered every other month until all eight are at the base.

Overall, it will take about three years for all eight planes to be stationed at YARS.