HANCOCK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT -- Projects that were put on hold at Hancock International Airport should soon be able to begin now that thousands of Federal Aviation Administration employees are heading back to work after being furloughed for the past two weeks.

On Friday, the senate approved a bill to end the partial shutdown of the agency and President Obama signed it. It re-opens the FAA through mid-September.

A few small design projects at Hancock International Airport were put on hold because of the partial shutdown. According to Aviation Commissioner Christina Reale, 95-percent of the funding for those projects come from the FAA.

"Our hope is that we will receive the funding and will be able to kick off those projects," Reale said.

The projects include: A snow removal equipment storage building, a sand dome storage unit, a paving project at the airfield maintenance facility and an airport pavement management study. In all, the projects total $4-million. Some maintenance may now have to be postponed until next year because there may not be enough time to complete it before icy weather.

"Not doing them, would not have had an impact on airport operation or security," Reale said.

Real says none of the projects put on hold had a direct impact on operations. She says the partial shutdown did not impact the terminal project, a project to consolidate the two passenger screening checkpoints. She says they will know more next week about when they will be able to get funding. Real says there was no impact to travelers in and out of Hancock during the shutdown.