With airlines collecting nearly $5 billion in baggage\nfees in 2018 along with billions more in other ancillary charges \u2013 record highs\n\u2013 the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) called on Congress to\nupdate the U.S. tax code and the federal cap on local airport user fees to\nreflect the airlines\u2019 increased focus on bag fees and ancillary revenue and\nspur needed investments in the nation\u2019s airports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile airlines pile up record fee collections from\npassengers for so-called \u2018optional\u2019 services like taking a bag for a trip, they\nvigorously fight modest proposals that would upgrade airports and other\naviation infrastructure,\u201d AAAE President and CEO Todd Hauptli noted in response\nto the 2018 data released today by the U.S. Department of Transportation and\nthe airlines\u2019 continued opposition to bipartisan calls to adjust a local\nairport user fee known as the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) that finances the\nconstruction of new runways, terminals, gates and other airport improvements\nthat directly benefit passengers and increase airline competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t meet today\u2019s needs, let alone tomorrow\u2019s, while\nmaintaining a system that fails to take into account changed airline business\npractices and an airport financing model last updated decades ago,\u201d Hauptli\nadded. \u201cIt\u2019s past time for Congress to look past self-serving airline rhetoric\nand make meaningful changes to boost airport infrastructure investments that\ndirectly benefit the traveling public.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to data released today by DOT\u2019s Bureau of\nTransportation Statistics, airlines collected more than $1.2 billion in baggage\nfees during the fourth quarter of 2018, bringing total bag fee collections for\nthe year to $4.9 billion. Airlines collected another $2.7 billion in\nreservation change and cancellation fees during 2018, for a total of $7.6 billion\nin ancillary fees their passengers paid last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although airlines have increased their bag fees and\ncollect record amounts from their customers, they continue to oppose adjusting\nthe federal cap on local PFCs, a user fee that must be justified locally,\nimposed locally and used locally on FAA-approved projects that enhance local\nairport facilities. The federal cap on the local PFC has not been adjusted\nsince 2000. Despite misleading airline arguments, the PFC is not a tax and\nnever goes to the federal Treasury, a fact verified by the non-partisan\nCongressional Research Service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bag and Ticket Fee Facts<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Airlines collected a total of $7.6 billion in baggage and\nreservation change fees in 2018 \u2013 an average of more than $20 million every day\nin combined ancillary fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Total airline bag and reservation fee collections have\nincreased every single year for more than a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The record in fee collections last year follows an\nastounding $7.4 billion in bag and ticket fees in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since 2008, airlines have charged flyers $67 billion in\nbag and ticket change fees. Bag fees have now exceeded $1 billion every quarter\nfor nearly three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because bag fees are not taxed at the same 7.5 percent\nexcise tax rate applied to base airline tickets, the Airport and Airway Trust\nFund lost more than $367 million in foregone revenue in 2018 alone. Since 2008,\nthe $38.5 billion in bag fees that are not taxed have cost the Trust Fund\nnearly $2.9 billion in lost revenue. Those are funds that could have otherwise\nbeen spent on needed airport and air traffic control upgrades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PFC Facts<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While airlines raked in $7.6 billion from bag and ticket\nfees last year, airports collectively received $3.5 billion from the PFC in\n2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Airlines charged more bag and ticket fees last year than\nairports collected via the PFC in 2017 and 2018 combined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The federal cap on the PFC has not been adjusted since\n2000 \u2013 more than 19 years ago. The last time Congress increased the PFC cap,\nCoca-Cola was still selling New Coke, roughly half of U.S. adults used the\ninternet, and Ericsson became the first company to sell a new device it called\na \u201csmartphone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With airlines collecting nearly $5 billion in baggage fees in 2018 along with billions more in other ancillary charges \u2013 record highs \u2013 the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) called on Congress to update the U.S. tax code and the federal cap on local airport user fees to reflect the airlines\u2019 increased focus on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12767"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12768,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12767\/revisions\/12768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}