DOT offers $1B for airports to add nursing suites, family lanes, and even treadmills

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has created a new $1 billion grant program to make U.S. airports more family- and health-friendly.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy launched the “Make Travel Family Friendly Again” campaign alongside Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday, December 8, at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

“I am talking about ushering in the golden age of transportation,” Duffy said, adding they are hiring more air traffic controllers, and asking retiring air traffic controllers to stay on the job.

However, the Transportation Secretary said the funding is dedicated to “making the experience better in airports and its pretty wide open on what airports want to ask for” but could include additional nursing pods for breastfeeding mothers, workout areas, and family lanes for security checkpoints.

Duffy said he has also reached out to the CEOs at a “majority of airlines” to see what they can do.

Making the airport experience better, by making the experience healthier

“I fly typically, over the past 30 years, on average 250 days a year, and I can tell you, this is where healthy diets go to die,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy added that one of the things Secretary Duffy is encouraging airports to do on the health front, is open up new options like Farmer’s Fridge, a healthy food vending machine—whose CEO joined Kennedy at the podium. He also encouraged airports to apply for grants to create playground for kids, to decrease screen time.

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