TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – More than $1 million is heading to the Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport thanks to new federal funding.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) awarded the money as part of its Small Community Air Service Development Program, according to Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur’s office.

The funding gives the airport, overseen by the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, a revenue guarantee and is intended to help recruit, launch and support new service to a major hub. The money will allow Port Authority leaders to reach agreements with new service providers to restore service at major hubs, allowing connecting flights to global destinations, a news release from the office said. Kaptur.

Thomas Winston, president and CEO of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, said he is grateful for the grant to expand and improve air service.

“This funding will provide us with additional resources to secure new routes from TOL, making air travel more accessible to residents of Northwest Ohio,” Winston said. “We are excited about what this means for the future of additional air service from Toledo’s local airport.”

MP Kaptur pushed for the funding in a July letter to the Department of Transportation, saying the entities were working to expand air service, but the pandemic and subsequent labor issues created a “significant” loss of commercial service.

“As the airport works to rebuild, restore and expand its capacity, federal support in its efforts is vital,” Kaptur’s letter read in part. “Toledo Express Airport management is dedicated to improving and expanding air service and has worked tirelessly with carriers to restore and expand service as we emerge from the pandemic. »

Kaptur said in a statement Thursday that the money would help restore better services to passengers to and from the airport.

“In the face of unprecedented challenges facing our aviation community, this award will provide much-needed support to strengthen commercial air service for residents of Northwest Ohio and our surrounding region,” said Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur. “Expanding commercial service to Toledo Express Airport is one of my top priorities after updated congressional districts brought it back into OH-09. We are now on the verge of making this dream a reality. I look forward to continued conversations and partnerships with the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority to boost our region’s economic competitiveness.”

The congresswoman’s office said she was awarded a similar grant in 2011, which established air service between Charlotte and Chicago. The airport was in his congressional district from 1983 to 2013, until district boundaries were redrawn. Service to Charlotte and Chicago was lost in 2022, his office said, under different representation. Another change in political maps brought the airport back to his district in 2023.

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