CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Following action from the Laramie County Commissioners this afternoon, Chairman Troy Thompson and the Laramie County General Counsel will have authorization to accept Federal Aviation Administration grant awards for the Cheyenne Regional Airport.
Airport staff submitted a pre-application to the FAA to construct a Passenger Boarding Bridge, or PBB, that will be connected to the Passenger Terminal at the airport. A PBB is an enclosed and elevated passageway which extends from an airport terminal gate to an airplane. The contraption allows passengers to board and disembark a plane without going outside.
The grant funds will be awarded to the airport through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that was enacted by Congress in November 2021. The airport will receive roughly $5,050,000 over a 5-year period in entitlement funds under the new legislation, according to a memo to commissioners. The cost for the PBB is estimated to be $2,300,000.
Per the memo, the cost share for the project is 93.75% from the FAA, 3.75% from the Wyoming Department of Transportation and 2.5% from the airport. The FAA will issue the grant sometime between the summer months and Sept. 30, which is the end of the federal fiscal year.
Once the grant is awarded, the FAA requires signatures from the Chairman and Laramie County General Counsel within 48 hours or the airport will risk losing the funding.
In April, the airport began its second phase of renovations aiming to replace approximately 3,600 feet of the runway’s pavement. This closure will require the airport to suspend airline service with SkyWest for approximately 160 days.
