posted 02-14-2011 03:16 PM                  

The president's budget released Monday would raise the "passenger facility charge" to a maximum of $7 from $4.50 per flight to offset $1.1 billion in cuts to airport grants. Airports use the passenger-charge money for FAA-approved safety and expansion projects.

Just because it's in the president's budget doesn't mean the increased facility charge will fly. Some Republicans with a hand in writing aviation laws have different ideas. Airlines are also fighting the proposal, saying it amounts to a $2 billion tax increase on the flying public. Airline executives argue the increase could discourage more people from flying.

Todd Hauptli, a lobbyist for the American Association of Airport Executives, said the grant cuts would hurt critically needed safety, security and capacity projects at airports around the country.

Airport advocates, such as consultant Mike Boyd, were outraged that Obama would cut airport spending while proposing $53 billion for high-speed rail. "Rail won't work — it's a 19th-century solution," he said. "Meanwhile, airports will have 30 percent less to do the things we need to do."

Last year the House approved a bill that would have let airports raise the charge up to $7, but the Senate version of the bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration didn't include a raise. The bill died anyway.

The House is now under Republican control, and last week, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., new chairman of the House Transportation Committee, and new aviation subcommittee chairman Rep. Tom Petri, R-Wis., notably left the $4.50 limit on passenger charges unchanged in their FAA overhaul bill.

The passenger charge is levied on each flight segment, which is one takeoff and one landing. For example, a passenger flying from Dallas to Detroit with a stop in Chicago would pay the charge twice, once for each leg of the trip.

Airlines say raising the passenger fee would slow the recovery in airline travel, which helped the airlines earn about $2.3 billion in profit last year after losing billions in 2008 and 2009.

Delta Air Lines Inc. CEO Richard Anderson wrote in the airline's in-flight magazine, Sky, that raising the fee to $7 would mean that a family of four would pay $112 in passenger charges on the average trip. He assumes they make one stop on their outbound trip and another going home, for a total of four legs.

posted 02-14-2011 04:25 PM                  

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob Miller:
Why should airports get government grants?

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Right,,,,what about this one?:

John Murtha's Airport for No One

In 20 years, Dem. Reprentative John Murtha had successfully doled out more than $150 million of federal payments to what is now being called the airport for no one.

If you hate the hubbub of crowded airports, you might want to consider flying out of Johnstown, Pa. The airport sees an average of fewer than 30 people per day, there is never a wait for security, you can park for free right outside the gate, and you are almost guaranteed a row to yourself on any flight.

There are a total of 18 flights per week, all of which go to Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C.

The airport has an $8.5 million, taxpayer-funded radar system that has never been used. The runway was paved with reinforced concrete at a cost of more than $17 million. The latest investment was $800,000 from the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to repave half of the secondary runway. (Never mind that the first one is hardly ever in use.)

posted 02-14-2011 04:43 PM                  

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob Miller:
Why should airports get government grants?

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