Paying for flight display upgrades at a regional airport

Where the money for screens, players and display software can come from. General information only: confirm eligibility with your FAA Airports District Office.

Schedule a demo

Start with your Airports District Office

This page is general information, not funding advice. Every program below has eligibility rules that depend on the airport, the project and the guidance in force at the time. Your FAA Airports District Office (ADO) decides eligibility, so bring them in before you build a budget around any of these sources.

1. Airport Improvement Program (AIP)

The FAA AIP Handbook (Order 5100.38D, with Change 1) lists non-exclusive-use FIDS and BIDS among typical eligible terminal equipment in Appendix N, Table N-5. They still have to meet the handbook's terminal eligibility tests; equipment used exclusively by a single airline, for example, is generally not eligible.

Software is treated more narrowly. Paragraph 3-66 lets the Airports District Office approve software license or subscription costs only case by case, only for the share tied to a specific AIP project and only for that project's duration. Ongoing data subscription costs are not allowable. In practice, display hardware and installation may qualify, while recurring subscription fees generally come from the operating budget.

The FAA has published a draft of a new AIP Handbook (Order 5100.38E) and expects the final version in 2027, so check the current version before relying on any table or paragraph number.

2. Passenger Facility Charges (PFC)

Airports that collect Passenger Facility Charges can propose terminal projects for PFC funding, and the FAA has approved flight display projects before. Its 2022 PFC decisions include Chattanooga's flight information display and software replacement, and a 2010 decision for Newport News/Williamsburg (75 FR 27619) covered flight, baggage and gate information display systems. Past approvals show the category can qualify; they don't guarantee that a given project will.

3. Airport Terminal Program

The Airport Terminal Program, created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, funds terminal development with a 95 percent federal share for small-hub, non-hub and nonprimary airports. The law funded it for fiscal years 2022 through 2026, so check whether a new round is open. Program documents don't name FIDS, so treat display work as possible only as part of a terminal project, and confirm with your ADO.

4. Budgeting for subscription software

Subscription software moves much of the cost of a display system from the capital budget to the operating budget. A workable plan treats screens, players and installation as capital, which may be grant eligible, and the subscription as an operating expense the airport carries each year.

  • Ask vendors to price hardware, installation and subscription separately, so each line can go to the right budget and funding source.
  • Line up the grant timeline with the contract term, since grant-funded equipment is often bought well before the subscription starts.
  • Cooperative purchasing contracts are one way some airports buy without running a full RFP. Check your procurement rules first, and remember that federally funded purchases carry their own procurement requirements.

Sources

Want to see what a Summit subscription covers, so you can budget for it on its own line? Schedule a demo.