With airlines collecting more than $1.5 billion in baggage\nfees in the second quarter of 2019 \u2013 yet another record high \u2013 the American\nAssociation of Airport Executives (AAAE) called on Congress to update the\narbitrary federal cap on local Passenger Facility Charges to spur investment in\nnew terminals, gates, runways and other airport improvements that directly\nbenefit airline passengers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCongress needs to address today\u2019s system that puts airline\nprofits in first class but leaves passengers and their needs in the last rows\nof coach,\u201d said AAAE President and CEO Todd Hauptli upon today\u2019s release of the\nquarterly bag fee figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to data released today by the Department of\nTransportation\u2019s Bureau of Transportation Statistics, airlines collected more\nthan $1.5 billion in baggage fees during the second quarter this year, breaking\nthe previous record high that was set earlier this year. With more than $2.8\nbillion in bag fees collected through the first six months of the year, airlines\nare on pace to shatter the record-high $4.9 billion in baggage fees charged\nlast year \u2013 a year in which many carriers increased their fees for the first\nchecked bag by $5. Airlines collected another $740 million in reservation\nchange and cancellation fees in the second quarter after raking in $2.7 billion\nin ticket fees last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although airlines have increased their bag fees and continue\nto collect record amounts of ancillary fees from their customers, they continue\nto oppose adjusting the federal cap on local PFCs, a user fee that must be\njustified locally, imposed locally and used locally on FAA-approved projects\nthat enhance local airport facilities. The federal cap on the local PFC has not\nbeen adjusted since 2000. Due to increased construction costs since then, a\n$4.50 PFC is worth just over $2 today, which hampers infrastructure development\nopportunities at airports around the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bag and Ticket Fee Facts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Airlines collected more than $2.2 billion in baggage and\nreservation change fees in the second quarter of 2019 \u2013 an average of nearly\n$25 million in combined ancillary fees every single day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Airlines are collecting more revenue from passengers after\nincreasing the fees they charge flyers to check their bags. In September 2018,\nseveral airlines raised the fee for the first checked bag from $25 to $30 \u2013 a\n20 percent jump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Total airline bag and reservation fee collections have\nincreased every year for more than a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The record in bag fee collections this quarter follows an\nastounding $7.6 billion in bag and ticket fees in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since 2008, airlines have charged flyers more than $71\nbillion in bag and ticket change fees. Bag fees have now exceeded $1 billion\nevery quarter for more than 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 $210 million in foregone revenue in the first six months of\nthis year. Since 2008, the $41.3 billion in bag fees that are not taxed have\ncost the Trust Fund more than $3 billion in lost revenue. Those are funds that\ncould have otherwise been spent on needed airport and air traffic control\nupgrades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PFC Facts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Airlines raked in $7.6 billion from bag and ticket fees last\nyear \u2013 more than twice the $3.5 billion than airports collected 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 2000\n\u2013 more than 19 years ago. The last time Congress increased the PFC cap, only\nhalf of U.S. adults had access to the internet and Apple was a year away from\nreleasing the very first iPod.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With airlines collecting more than $1.5 billion in baggage fees in the second quarter of 2019 \u2013 yet another record high \u2013 the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) called on Congress to update the arbitrary federal cap on local Passenger Facility Charges to spur investment in new terminals, gates, runways and other airport improvements […]<\/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-13787","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\/13787","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=13787"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13788,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13787\/revisions\/13788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}