09.29.14

Durbin Announces $500,000 Investment To Expand Airline Service at Quad City International Airport

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] –U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced today that the Department of Transportation (DOT) has awarded the Quad City International Airport in Moline, Illinois a $500,000 grant to grow new air service between the Northwest Illinois and Washington, DC. The funding was awarded through DOT’s Small Community Air Service Development Program, which was established by Congress in 2002 to help small, underserved airports around the country improve their air service. The Quad City International Airport will use this funding for marketing efforts and as a revenue guarantee that will allow the airport to provide new service to the East Coast.  

“Having access to reliable air service is essential to growing businesses that create jobs in Illinois,” Durbin said. “This investment shows the continued strong commitment the federal government has to improving the quality of service and expanding access to the Quad-City International Airport and to the entire region.”

For years, Durbin has fought for federal funding to improve, upgrade, and rehabilitate the Quad City International Airport. Last year, Durbin announced a $2,880,831 grant for the airport to increase the size of its snow removal equipment fleet and help ensure that the airport continues to function safely and efficiently.  In 2011, construction was completed on a federally-funded rehabilitation of the Quad City International Airport's main 10,000 foot runway. The airport received $34 million to completely reconstruct the deteriorating runway, including $3.7 million through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and $487,000 secured by Durbin in the 2009 Transportation Appropriations bill.