Airports in Manchester and Lebanon are getting $5.3 million in grants for improvements from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Manchester-Boston Regional Airport received $4 million to upgrade the aircraft parking apron next to the airline terminal.

Lebanon Municipal Airport received $1.3 million to remove runway obstructions and improve lighting.

“I am pleased these funds are going to two airports in New Hampshire that really need the money for critical improvement projects,” U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said Friday in a press release.

Manchester-Boston Regional Airport Deputy Director J. Brian O’Neill said the airport started to rip up the apron at the north end of the terminal building last week and the project will wrap up just before Thanksgiving. (The apron is the area between the airline terminal and the taxiway.)

The full $8 million-plus project will be done in two phases with the FAA contributing 90 percent, the airport is contributing 7.5 percent and the state contributing 2.5 percent.

Because the airport is an enterprise department of the city, funds come revenues generated from airport activities, not from city taxpayer dollars, he said.

“We anticipate receiving another $4 million FAA grant next year for phase two,” O’Neill said.

The apron, or ramp area, is 20 years old, and the concrete was expanding from an alkali silica reaction (ASR). The expansion was hurting the trench drain around the terminal apron, he said.

“In order to resolve the ASR issue, we need to rip up the existing concrete and replace the concrete,” O’Neill said.

Continental Paving of Londonderry, a long-time airport contractor, is doing the work and is ripping up and replacing 10,000 cubic yards of concrete in the first phase. The concrete is rebar reinforced and 16 inches thick.

The work means shifting airline traffic to available gates while work continues.

“As we’re closing gates, we’re just shifting operations to available gates,” O’Neill said. “There will be no impact to the daily airline operations at the airport.”

Currently, work is being done at Gate 15, so Southwest Airlines has shifted operations there to Gate 10, and the carrier also is operating out of Gates 10, 12, 12 and 14. (There is no Gate 13 at the airport.)

“The new concrete apron will serve the airport for the next several decades,” O’Neill said.

This first phase of the project is scheduled to be completed by Thanksgiving.

The second phase will be done during the 2013 construction season.

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Denis Paiste may be reached at dpaiste@unionleader.com.