ACI-NA responds to airline attack on PFC increase
On 14-May, ACI-NA President Greg Principato sent the letter below to the Wall Street Journal editor regarding the letter sent by the Air Transport Association to Sens. John D. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R.-Texas) and Reps. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) and John Mica (R-Fla.) opposing an increase in the PFC ceiling:
I am writing to correct the information provided to Josh Mitchell for his article "US Airlines Fight Plan To Allow Higher Ticket Taxes", regarding a letter US airlines sent to Congress opposing the $7 Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) included in H.R. 1586.
The PFC is not a tax, but a user fee designed to provide local airports with the funding needed to make improvements in safety and in airport infrastructure. It is ironic that air carriers complain about $2 billion in PFC user fees which have been used to improve airport runways and terminals, yet defend their many fees which last year cost passengers $7.8 billion. Airlines don't like PFC because they help bring competition by helping to build new facilities - improvements that allow airlines like Southwest, AirTran and JetBlue to bring lower fares to many communities.
PFC funds are plowed back into the air transportation system to ensure the safety of the traveling public as well as help reduce the delays the airlines mention in their letter. In fact, the Government Accountability Office has testified before Congress that new runways and other infrastructure improvements are needed if a modernized air traffic control system is going to actually reduce delays and congestion. And those improvements are paid for, in large part, by PFCs.