From the Arkansas Advocate:
Officials at Arkansas’ busiest airport are hopeful they’ll be the first in the nation to secure a federal infrastructure program loan for a terminal expansion they say is needed to meet growing demand.
Northwest Arkansas National Airport has spent nearly a year applying for the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program, which provides credit assistance for qualified projects of regional and national significance, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The $1.2 trillion infrastructure law signed by then-President Joe Biden in 2021 expanded the program to airport-related projects.
The program has previously supported the construction and acquisition of three ferry boats and redevelopment of two ferry terminals for New York’s Staten Island, and the extension of a Dallas Area Rapid Transit line in Texas.
Proponents say the program generates significant savings because it offers a low, fixed interest rate, financing up to 49% of eligible project costs and a flexible repayment period.
The program is overseen by the transportation department’s Build America Bureau whose executive director, Morteza Farajian, met with airport officials and U.S. Congressman Steve Womack Wednesday morning.
After their meeting, Farajian told reporters that Northwest Arkansas National Airport applied for the program’s rural rate, roughly 2.25% to 2.5% — half the regular rate. The lower rate often helps loan recipients expedite their projects, he said.
“What they save in financing costs is so much more than what they pay in construction cost escalation if they wanted to wait and build their projects later,” Farajian said.
Because the loan hasn’t been closed, Farajian didn’t have exact numbers, but he estimated the program would save the airport tens of millions of dollars.
Officials should make a decision on the loan in a month or two and if it’s awarded, Farajian said it would be the first TIFIA loan for an airport terminal expansion in the country.
Airport CEO Aaron Burkes said the loan would support a new concourse whose construction is expected to begin this fall. Bids are due next week for the project, said Burkes, who estimated it will cost $80 to $120 million to build seven new gates to meet the region’s rapid growth.
During the first half of 2026, the airport saw nearly 32,000 more passengers than the first six months of 2025, officials announced last month.
Burkes estimated the loan could save the airport around $30 million. Airport officials are also looking at using the loan program next year to build a new parking garage for rental car operations, he said.
“It’s a tremendous savings for us and will allow us to go ahead and get these projects done and funded a little faster than we would otherwise be able to,” Burkes said. “It’s a tremendous help to us.”
There will always be facility needs when you’re in a growing area, said Burkes, who noted officials in 2021 identified about $620 million in projects that need to be funded. The airport is not even halfway through those projects, he said.
Womack, a Republican who serves as chairman of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee, praised airport officials for planning ahead.
“They’re projecting this airport beyond the current line of sight to be able to see what a generation or two from now this place is going to look like,” he said. “And getting ahead of those projects early on, getting ahead of that change, I think is very important.”
All six Republicans in the state’s congressional delegation, including Womack, voted against the 2021 infrastructure funding measure that included an expansion of the loan program.
