| INDIANAPOLIS (Nov. 5, 2026) — The Indianapolis Airport Authority has been awarded $72.16 million in federal funding in 2026, marking the second-highest level of federal funding in the authority’s history.
“This level of funding is a credit to our people,” said IAA Executive Director Mario Rodriguez. “It’s due to their continued coordination with the FAA and our commitment in using federal dollars for critical infrastructure projects to improve the public assets across the IAA airport system.”
The IAA’s airport system is primarily funded through revenue it generates via daily operations. Rodriguez said federal grants help the IAA to preserve existing airport infrastructure, along with enhancing airfield safety and long-term operations across the IAA’s reliever airport system.
The IAA anticipates the grants will create, in total across all funded projects, approximately 1,200 local construction jobs, and deliver a nearly $143 million economic impact to the Central Indiana region. An estimated 90 percent of those jobs will be with local companies. Additionally, in 2025, 90 percent of all capital improvement dollars at IAA were spent locally.
Federal Funding Breakout
The largest share of this year’s funding, $46.82 million, will support the new central baggage handling system at Indianapolis International Airport (IND). These federal funds come from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the FAA’s Airport Terminal Program and Congressionally Directed Spending.
“We’ve been working in close coordination with the FAA over the past three years to secure funding for this highly complex project,” said Jarod Klaas, IAA senior director of planning and development. “This follows our historical approach: match the right projects to the right programs at the right time – and stay in close step with the FAA from planning through design and construction.”
Additionally, IND’s Taxiway P Reconstruction Phase 2 project received two FAA grants totaling $17.98 million. Across design and both construction phases, $27.14 million in FAA funding has been secured for the Taxiway P project, bringing overall federal participation closer to a 50/50 funding split with the IAA.
For IND, $42,750 from the funding also went to the IAA’s vehicle movement area transponders, which support critical airfield safety.
IAA’s reliever airports also received funding to maintain and preserve assets, improve efficiencies and meet security requirements, with the largest amount of two federal grants totaling $4.1 million going towards Eagle Creek Airpark for Runway 3-21 electrical upgrades and Runway Safety Area grading and a new maintenance building. Indianapolis Regional Airport received $3.04 million for a perimeter fence. Hendricks County Airport-Gordon Graham Field received a $150,000 grant for a multi-year Taxiway A construction.
Smart Financial Stewardship
“This is the last year of new money from the 2021 federal infrastructure law, so we planned ahead,” said Rodriguez. “We stretched every dollar from prior years and combined it with other funding sources, and that paid off with substantial investments in our reliever airports.”
In 2021, the IAA received a $56 million Airport Improvement Program grant – the largest single federal grant in the airport’s history and the largest awarded to any U.S. airport in that funding round – which brought the total grants received for that year to a record-setting total of $82.9 million. In 2024, the IAA received a $26.6 million grant, one of the largest Airport Infrastructure Grants awarded nationwide in that round.
The IAA is responsible for five aviation facilities located throughout Central Indiana, including the Indianapolis International Airport, Eagle Creek Airpark, Hendricks County Airport-Gordon Graham Field, Indianapolis Regional Airport, and Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport. |
