{"id":14422,"date":"2019-12-09T22:12:43","date_gmt":"2019-12-09T22:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/?p=14422"},"modified":"2019-12-09T22:12:45","modified_gmt":"2019-12-09T22:12:45","slug":"aaae-urges-congress-to-update-pfc-program-to-unlock-local-investment-in-airports-around-the-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/national-news\/aaae-urges-congress-to-update-pfc-program-to-unlock-local-investment-in-airports-around-the-country\/%20","title":{"rendered":"AAAE Urges Congress to Update PFC Program to Unlock Local Investment in Airports around the Country"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As airline bag fee collections continue to rise \u2013 to a\nrecord-high $1.5 billion in the third quarter of 2019 \u2013 the American\nAssociation of Airport Executives (AAAE) called on Congress to adjust the\narbitrary and outdated federal cap on local Passenger Facility Charges to spur\ninvestments in the nation\u2019s airports that will directly benefit passengers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Todd Hauptli<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor most of us, Christmas comes only once a year, but for\nthe airlines, bag fees mean that every day of the year they get to open a new\npresent from the traveling public,\u201d said AAAE President and CEO Todd Hauptli.\n\u201cCongress should finally approve an adjustment to the PFC cap so that Santa and\nhis reindeer aren\u2019t the only ones who don\u2019t have to worry about where to land\nthis holiday season.\u201d<\/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 third quarter this year, breaking\na record set in the previous quarter. Through the first nine months of the\nyear, airlines have collected more than $4.3 billion in bag fees, putting them\non pace to shatter the record-high $4.9 billion in baggage fees charged in 2018\n\u2013 a year in which many carriers increased their fees for the first checked bag\nby $5. Airlines collected another $739 million in reservation change and\ncancellation fees in the third quarter after raking in $2.7 billion in ticket\nfees 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 remain\nopposed to 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\nbaggage and reservation change fees in the third quarter of 2019 \u2013 an average\nof more than $24 million in combined ancillary fees every single day.<\/li>
  • Airlines are collecting more revenue from\npassengers after increasing the fees they charge flyers to check their bags. In\nSeptember 2018, several major airlines raised the fee for the first checked bag\nfrom $25 to $30.<\/li>
  • Total airline bag and reservation fee\ncollections have increased every year for more than a decade.<\/li>
  • The record in bag fee collections this quarter\nfollows an astounding $7.6 billion in bag and ticket fees in 2018.<\/li>
  • Since 2008, airlines have charged flyers more\nthan $73 billion in bag and ticket change fees. Bag fees have now exceeded $1\nbillion every quarter for more than three years.<\/li>
  • Because bag fees are not taxed at the same 7.5\npercent excise tax rate applied to base airline tickets, the Airport and Airway\nTrust Fund lost nearly $325 million in foregone revenue in the first nine\nmonths of this year. Since 2008, the $42.8 billion in bag fees that are not\ntaxed have cost the Trust Fund more than $3.2 billion in lost revenue. Those\nare funds that could have otherwise been spent on needed airport and air\ntraffic control upgrades.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    PFC Facts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • Airlines raked in $7.6 billion from bag and\nticket fees last year \u2013 more than double the $3.5 billion that airports\ncollected from the PFC in 2018.<\/li>
    • Airlines charged more bag and ticket fees last\nyear than airports collected via the PFC in 2017 and 2018 combined.<\/li>
    • Between 2008 and 2018, total airline bag and\nticket fees exceeded airport PFC collections by more than $35 billion.<\/li>
    • The federal cap on the PFC has not been adjusted\nsince 2000 \u2013 more than 19 years ago. The last time Congress increased the PFC\ncap, only half of U.S. adults had access to the internet and approximately 35\npercent of Americans owned a cell phone.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      As airline bag fee collections continue to rise \u2013 to a record-high $1.5 billion in the third quarter of 2019 \u2013 the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) called on Congress to adjust the arbitrary and outdated federal cap on local Passenger Facility Charges to spur investments in the nation\u2019s airports that will directly benefit […]<\/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-14422","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\/14422","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=14422"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14424,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14422\/revisions\/14424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}