(The Center Square) – An approximately $7.4 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration will pay for improvements at San Bernardino International Airport, according to U.S. Rep. Pete Aguilar.
Aguilar, D-San Bernardino, recently announced the money being allocated to the airport.
"The San Bernardino International Airport plays a crucial role in our region's economy and infrastructure," the Southern California congressman said. "By improving the airport's efficiency, we will improve safety, drive economic growth and address critical infrastructure needs in our community."
The grant comes from the FAA's Airport Improvement Program. Approximately $7.4 million is going to the airport, with more than $4.3 million of that paying for reconstruction of a part of a high-traffic taxiway. More than $3.1 million will pay for repainting stripes and placing slurry on the airport's runways, according to a news release from Aguilar's office.
"It increases safety for all the airport users," said Mark Gibbs, director of aviation for the San Bernardino International Airport.
"We had a record year in aircraft activity in 2025," Gibbs told The Center Square Monday. "The safety of these facilities, that infrastructure is core to our mission and to provide a safe environment where aircraft can operate."
City and county elected officials in San Bernardino were unavailable to comment on the airport's federal grant before deadline on Monday. Representatives from Aguilar's office did not respond to The Center Square's requests for comment.
The FAA program that awarded the grant, theAirport Improvement Program, aims to use federal dollars to pay for projects at public airports across the U.S., according to theFederal Aviation Administration's website. The airport in San Bernardino is one of300 Western-Pacific airportsidentified by the FAA in the agency's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems, which is a database that contains the names and information of all commercial airports in the U.S. The plan also contains information about reliever airports and a small number of privately-owned general aviation airports, according to the FAA.
Aguilar has touted other federal grants his Inland Empire district has received in recent weeks. He announced a$1 million grantfrom the National Science Foundation that went to two universities - California State University, San Bernardino and University of California, Riverside. The grant was split between the two universities and went to pay for artificial intelligence classes and other on-campus programs.
