High level airport funding agreed as US economic stimulus package seeks to aid sector

Previous delays to the final agreement on future Federal funding for US airports and 'make-do' temporary funding extensions may be coming to an end as a House Transportation Committee brings in a bill to reauthorise the nation's aviation programmes for the next four years. Federal investment in airports is fixed at an historically high level but maintenance takes preference over new infrastructure under the Obama economic stimulus package. At the same time the restrictive impediments of the Alternative Minimum Tax on airport bonds have been eased just as more airports declare an interest in privatisation. With the US airline industry having already passed through the worst of their downturn, on the face of it, has there ever been a better time for US airports to invest in their future?