Mississippi § 57-1-471 - Mississippi Air Service Development Program Fund created; purpose; use of funds.

§ 57-1-471. Mississippi Air Service Development Program Fund created; purpose; use of funds.

This section shall be known and may be cited as the “Mississippi Air Service Development Program Act.” There is created in the State Treasury a fund designated as the “Mississippi Air Service Development Program Fund” referred to in this section as “fund.” The fund shall be used to provide grants to commercial service airports, as provided in this section, for one or more of the following air service development goals: Adding air service to a new destination; Adding frequencies to current services; Lowering fares/introducing new competitive service; Upgauging aircraft; and Adding a new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 121 commercial air carrier. Eligible projects for grants shall include marketing and advertising of new service and routes and additional frequencies, as well as other risk abatement plans; however, use of grant funds to purchase airline passenger seats is prohibited. The fund shall be administered by the Mississippi Development Authority which shall promulgate reasonable regulations consistent with the purposes of this section. The Mississippi Development Authority shall monitor and evaluate the Air Service Development Program and shall also report its evaluation of the program to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker of the House on an annual basis. Airline grant recipients shall be limited to scheduled air carriers that hold a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 121 Certificate and that provide scheduled air service at Mississippi airports that maintain FAA Part 139 Certification. An airport grant recipient shall only utilize grant funds in accordance with FAA regulation. The amount of a grant shall be based on a formula of Ten Dollars ($10.00) per seat per day calculation, not to exceed an annual total of Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000.00) per grant per FAA Part 139 airport. In no instance will a combination of airline or airport grants exceed a combined total of Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000.00) per year per airport. Seasonal service is also eligible for grants based on the per seat per day calculation provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection (5).For the purposes of this subsection (5), “seasonal service” means any service flown which lasts less than twelve (12) months and more than two (2) months in length.Multiple seasons may be flown by a particular air carrier within a twelve (12) month period with a gap in service between seasons of not less than two (2) months. 1. Thirty-five percent (35%) at the end of the first three (3) months of service; 2. Twenty-five percent (25%) at the end of the second three (3) months of service; 3. Twenty-five percent (25%) at the end of the third three (3) months of service; and 4. Fifteen percent (15%) at the end of the fourth three (3) months of service. Except as otherwise provided in this section, grants shall be disbursed by the Mississippi Development Authority within twelve (12) consecutive months as follows: Grants for seasonal service shall be disbursed by the Mississippi Development Authority at the rate of one hundred percent (100%) at the end of the seasonal service. Each grant shall require a forty percent (40%) match, which may be provided by private sources and/or public sources. Of the forty percent (40%) match prescribed under this subsection, only one-half (1/2) or twenty percent (20%) of the grant may derive from in-kind sources. All expenditures of the fund by airport or airline grant recipients shall be utilized for the purposes prescribed under subsection (3) of this section.