"Mead & Hunt helps communities obtain SCASDP funding"

Mead & Hunt helps community airports obtain SCASDP funding

MADISON . . Mead & Hunt, a leading consulting firm to the aviation industry, recently helped eight communities obtain Small Community Air Service Development Program (SCASDP) funding.

On August 30, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) notified airport sponsors of successful Small Community Air Service Development Program (SCASDP) applications for the 2004 grant cycle. There were 108 grant applications filed in 2004, down from 170 in 2003 and 178 in 2002. This year the DOT elected to award 40 grants, the maximum allowed. The 40 successful applicants were located in 30 states.

There were a total of nine grants ($4,933,046) awarded to airports in the Great Lakes region – as defined by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This was the largest number of awards and the highest total dollars of any FAA region. Mead & Hunt prepared applications for seven airport sponsors and assisted two additional airports with background work for their grant filings. We are very pleased the DOT elected to award grants to eight of the nine Mead & Hunt clients that filed for SCASDP grant funds.

The SCASDP will continue through 2008. The DOT may provide guidance on the 2005 program as early as November 2004. This will allow more time for airport sponsors to prepare their applications, which will most likely be due in April 2005. Naturally, as more airports are awarded grants, the odds of getting a grant go up for airports that have not previously received one. However, the US Airways bankruptcy could spawn more applications than would normally be expected in 2005. If you are considering applying for a 2005 grant, here are a few suggestions gleaned from Mead & Hunt’s experiences during the past three years:

The DOT wants to see community commitment. Make sure your program funding includes non-airport, local cash. All of the 2004 successful grant applications included non-airport cash in their funding package.
Make sure you have a well-considered “action plan.” Know what you want to accomplish and how you intend to use the grant.
If your plan includes air service, make sure you have airline buy-in. If necessary, airline commitment can be kept confidential in the application.
Get started early and do the necessary homework. Don’t wait. Preliminary market analysis, airline communication, and identification of funding sources should be accomplished sooner rather than later.

Mead & Hunt provides provides professional air service development, engineering, architectural, and planning services to the aviation industry. The firm also provides consulting services in historic preservation, highways and bridges, infrastructure, and water resources engineering to clients throughout the US. Recognized as the fastest rising architectural and engineering firm by the Zweig Letter Hot Firm list in 2004, Mead & Hunt also rose 82 places on the Engineering News Record's Top 500 design firm list in 2004. Mead & Hunt is an employee-owned, privately held corporation that employs about 280 people in offices nationwide.