PENDLETON — Airports around Oregon, including Pendleton’s Eastern Oregon Regional Airport, will receive more than $140 million in emergency federal aid due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The agency announced Tuesday that 55 state flight hubs will receive a share of $10 billion being given to more than 3,000 airports nationwide. The money comes from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act that Congress passed last month.

“The economic impact from this global pandemic has devastated airports in Oregon and nationwide,” U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, said. “More federal help will be needed to support these key travel connections throughout Oregon, but I am gratified these resources are en route to ensure our state’s airports will continue running in communities that rely on them for travel, the transport of goods and more.”

The federal money is meant to keep airports open and workers employed amid sharp declines in revenue and passenger traffic due to COVID-19, the FAA said.

Eastern Oregon Regional Airport is slated to receive $16.9 million.

“Eastern Oregon Regional Airport is critical to our region, but maintenance of such an enormous asset has always strained the city’s limited resources,” Pendleton Mayor John Turner said in a press release. “In recent years, as we’ve invested to build a premier UAS range, those maintenance costs have risen, so these funds could not be arriving at a better time.”

Turner said the funding will allow the city to move forward on “game-changing projects that would have taken years to accomplish.”

Steve Chrisman, Pendleton’s airport manager and economic development director, said the announcement was a welcome surprise.

“This pandemic has been a tremendous hardship for Pendleton’s airport, Boutique Air, and our local business community, so this award comes as a complete surprise and brings us some much-needed positive news,” Chrisman said in a press release. “Even with the recent successes of the Pendleton UAS Range, it still costs money to make money, and running an airport this size is a burden on a small municipality. This perfectly timed infusion is going to allow us to eliminate debt and accelerate planned projects, which will unshackle the earning and job creation potential of this airport.”

Airports in Boardman and Hermiston also received funding. The Hermiston Municipal Airport was awarded $69,000, while the airport in Boardman received $1,000. Other Eastern Oregon airports that received funding included Baker City, Burns, John Day, Joseph, La Grande and Ontario.

Portland International Airport, the state’s largest airport, will receive $72.3 million. The next largest allocations go to Mahlon Sweet Field in Eugene, $22.7 million and the Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport, $15.1 million.

The Port of Portland, which runs the three metro-area airports, announced last week that the number of passengers flying in and out of Portland International Airport is down 94% compared to this time last year. The port is planning $20 million in cuts that will result in employee furloughs, cutbacks in construction projects and other reductions.

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The Oregonian contributed to this report.