Assistance program
Air Transportation Centers of Excellence
$346.7 Million committed in FY2018–FY2026
- Agency
- Federal Aviation Administration, Transportation, Department of
- Assistance
- Project Grants;Use of Property, Facilities, and Equipment;Provision of Specialized Services
- CFDA number
- 20.109
- What it does
- Conduct long term research in critical and specific areas of aviation related technology. Responsibilities of Centers may include, but are not limited to: the conduct of research concerning catastrophic failure of aircraft; airspace and airport planning and design; airport capacity enhancement techniques; human performance in the air transportation environment; aviation safety and security; the supply of trained air transportation personnel including pilots and mechanics; and other aviation issues pertinent to developing and maintaining a safe and efficient air transportation system, and the interpretation, publication, and dissemination of the results of such research.
- Who benefits
- Recipients are limited to colleges and universities with the financial resources to meet statutory requirements for matching Federal grants and maintenance of effort. In conducting research, a Center of Excellence may contract with nonprofit research organizations and other appropriate persons.
- Who applies
- FAA COE applicants are limited to colleges and universities with the financial resources to meet statutory requirements for matching Federal funds and maintenance of effort. Academic institutions may partner with industry affiliates, other public and private entities, government laboratories and other interested parties. Applicants must satisfy the Congressionally mandated selection criteria as stated in an open Final Solicitation.
- Authorized by
- Federal Aviation Administration Research, Engineering and Development Authorization Act of 1990
- Program site
- http://www.faa.gov/go/coe ↗
Committed by fiscal year
* FY2026 is year-to-date — the fiscal year is still in progress, so its total is still filling in. The striped band and dashed line mark that provisional stretch.
Top recipients
By dollars committed.
How to read these numbers
- Committed through this program
Money committed under this assistance listing (its CFDA program), counted in the year each action happened.
- How it's paid
Most programs pay out one way — a grant, or a direct payment to individuals; the flow bar only appears when a program genuinely mixes types.
- Some recipients aren't itemized
For entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, the government reports one aggregate instead of naming tens of millions of people, so the recipient roster isn't part of the public record.
- Awards, counted once
An award count is the number of distinct awards with at least one action that year — each counted once, however many times it was amended.
- The colored bars
Every bar on this page splits by how the money moves:
Direct payments