The U.S. Department of Transportation announced over $970 million in grants for over 100 airports across the country, with Gulf Shores International Airport among those listed.

According to a news release from the agency, the airport will receive $5 million to fund the construction of a new commercial terminal, which has been in the works for years.

"This project partially funds the eligible portion of a new commercial service terminal to accommodate new air carrier service," the release stated.

Per the release, the DOT only awarded funds to two cities in Alabama, the second being $7 million awarded to the Huntsville International Airport for terminal and concourse renovations.

According to an article from the Alabama Reflector, the FAA received more than 600 grant applications, and awarded grants to 144 airports in 44 countries and three territories.

Timeline of events
In 2021, it was announced that the Jack Edwards National Airport in Gulf Shores would begin offering direct flights from Atlanta, Nashville and Baton Rouge to Gulf Shores. However, just one month later those same plans were scrapped, leaving many people confused as to what exactly went wrong.

A year later, in September 2022, it was announced that the Gulf Shores Airport Authority had signed an agreement with TBI/VINCI Airports for the construction of a new commercial air terminal. However, another year would pass before further details or plans for the project were made public.

In July 2023, former airport director Scott Fuller announced the airport would remained focused on adding commercial terminals and was concentrating its efforts on applying for federal grants to help with funding. Fuller said he hoped to begin construction on the commercial terminal in 2024.

"We expect funding to come out around September for airline terminal projects and be ready to go when the grant announcements come out around December or January," Fuller said at the time. "Right now, construction is slated to begin in March 2024 with a March 2025 completion date. We are talking to a number of airlines right now, but we are putting them off until 2025."

At the time, Fuller said the airport had just been upgraded to a "commercial airport," which would increase the opportunity for federal funding.

"Our main focus is still the commercial terminal, which we have been working on for a few years," Fuller said. "Where we are on that is that the airport was just upgraded to a commercial airport last month, which opened up the avenue of funding and we can utilize federal fund support for the terminal."