President Barack Obama’s nearly $4 trillion budget proposal released this week includes an increase in the passenger facility charge from $4.50 to $8 but cuts funding for the Airport Improvement Program, a key source of capital for mid-sized and smaller, regional airports.
Airports Council International-North America expressed mixed feelings about the proposal in a statement, praising Obama for his plan to increase the PFC and for its inclusion of funding for 2,300 new Customs and Border Protection officers and procurement of new technology and equipment aimed at making ports of entry more efficient in processing arriving passengers and cargo.
All of these issues are expected to be part of the discussion as stakeholders negotiate a reauthorization of funding for the Federal Aviation Administration. The current bill became law in 2012 and expires in September.
“We are pleased that the president’s vision for transportation includes the key airport priority of a long-overdue modernization of the passenger facility charge,” says Kevin Burke, president and CEO of ACI-NA. “Giving airports the flexibility and local control they need to implement a PFC level appropriate for their community’s needs is an important first step in spurring competition in the airline industry and in helping our nation’s airports remain competitive with the rest of the world.”
But the organization also is displeased with plans to cut AIP funding.
“A significant cut like this in AIP funding ultimately hurts medium- and small-sized airports that depend the most on this grant funding for necessary capital improvement projects,” Burke says. “We look forward to working with the president and Congress during FAA reauthorization this year to modernize the PFC for all airports and safeguard AIP because pitting large hubs against smaller, regional airports for limited resources is not a productive long-term solution for ensuring the global competitiveness of America’s aviation system.”
