Grants to support the improvement of critical air infrastructure
Regional Airports Program
What do you get?
Grants will be from $20,000 to $5 million to undertake essential works to improve aviation safety and access for regional communities.
Who is this for?
Owners and operators of airports or aerodromes in regional areas of Australia.
Overview
The Regional Airports Program provides grants to improve the safety and accessibility of airports and aerodromes in regional areas of Australia. It will support critical air infrastructure that will:
- improve the safety of aircraft, operators and passengers using regional airports or aerodromes
- facilitate improved delivery of essential goods and services such as food supplies, health care and passenger air services
- improve the connectivity of Australia’s regions to domestic and global market opportunities
- meet the operational requirements of aeromedical and other emergency services in the region
There is a total of $58.8 million available for this grant round.
Grants will be from $20,000 to $5 million.
The grant amount will be up to 50% of eligible project costs (grant percentage), unless:
- where the applicant (you) and a third party (could include State, Territory or local government or other non-government funding) are both contributing to eligible project costs, the grant amount will be up to 33.3% of eligible project costs or
- where the applicant meets the Small Project criteria in section 3.2 of the Grant opportunity guidelines as an Australian local government agency or body or an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation and the total project cost is equal to or less than $300,000, the grant amount will be up to 100% of eligible costs.
Small Projects are for minor works to maintain the capability of the airport.
You are eligible to apply for Small Projects if you are an Australian local government agency or body or an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation and the total project cost is equal to or less than $300,000.
Small Projects are still required to meet the Eligibility Criteria and will be assessed against other applications under the Assessment Criteria.
Multiple applications for work related to one airport will be considered together in determining the co-funding requirement.
If your total project cost is greater than $300,000 you will be required to provide 50% co-funding of the total project cost (i.e. including the first $300,000 of eligible project expenditure). This includes multiple applications for one airport.
Eligibility
To be eligible you must:
- have an Australian business number (ABN)
- be an owner and/or operator of an existing aerodrome or airport in a regional area in Australia
You must also be one of the following:
- an entity incorporated in Australia (including incorporated trustees on behalf of a trust)
- an Australian local government agency or body
- an Australian state or territory government agency or body
- a corporate Commonwealth entity
- an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation that is registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth)
State agencies or other eligible entities may apply on behalf of aerodrome owners/operators. In such cases, the state agency or other eligible entity will be the lead applicant in a joint application and will be wholly responsible for the project, including administering, reporting and acquitting all project expenditure. Only the lead organisation can submit the application form and enter into a grant agreement with the Commonwealth. For further information on joint applications, refer to section 7.2 of the grant opportunity guidelines.
We can only accept applications where:
- your aerodrome is identified as Inner Regional or Outer Regional as defined by the 2016 Australian Statistical Geographic Standard (ASGS) Remoteness Area.
- your aerodrome or airport’s passenger throughput was below 250,000 passengers (from all flight types) in 2019.
- you can provide evidence from your board or Council (or chief executive officer or equivalent if there is no board) that the project is supported by the applicant organisation, and that the organisation is willing to accept responsibility to complete the project and meet the costs of the project not covered by grant funding.
We cannot waive the eligibility criteria under any circumstances.
Check the full eligibility details in the Grant opportunity guidelines.
You are not eligible to apply if you are:
- an individual
- a partnership
- the owner/operator of a federally-leased airport
- any organisation not included in section 4.1 of the grant opportunity guidelines.
- a trust (however, an incorporated trustee may apply on behalf of a trust)
- a non-corporate Commonwealth entity.
Applying
How do you apply?
The Regional Airports Program grant opportunity is currently closed to applications.
We assess your application against the eligibility criteria and then against the assessment criteria. Only eligible applications will proceed to the assessment stage.
In consultation with the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development, we may assign a technical expert to develop or analyse the work program submitted by an applicant. This will include compliance with any relevant Civil Aviation and Safety Authority (CASA) standards and costings.
We may refer your application to an Assessment Panel with representatives from the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications for assessment. The Assessment Panel may also have stakeholder group representatives. We may also use the Assessment Panel for out of round applications where the project is urgent due to emergency circumstances.
Your application will be assessed against the assessment criteria and compared to other eligible applications in a funding round before recommending which projects to fund.
The Minister decides which grants to approve taking into account the recommendations of the assessment panel and the availability of grant funds.
To be competitive you must score highly (at least 50%) against all of the assessment criteria.
- Assessment criterion 1: Demonstrated need for your project (50 points)
- Assessment criterion 2: Capacity, capability and resources to deliver the project (30 points)
- Assessment criterion 3: Impact/benefit of grant funding on your project (20 points)
If your application is successful, you will receive a written offer. If you are unsuccessful, we will notify you in writing and give you the chance to discuss the outcome with us.
Successful applicants must enter into a grant agreement with the Commonwealth. The grant agreement will specify the reporting requirements, payment schedule and milestones necessary to receive payments.
We will make the first payment when the grant agreement is executed. We will make subsequent payments after we have received and accepted the required report. We set aside a minimum of 10% of the total grant funding for the final payment. We will pay this when you submit a satisfactory final report.
Payments will be made by direct credit into a nominated bank account.
Need help?
Let us answer your question via phone, email or live chat. And if we can't help, we'll put you in touch with someone who can.
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Key documents
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