According to advocacy groups, the latest Senate Appropriation Bill introduced will increase the cap on the airport passenger facility charge (PFC) from $4.50 per flight to $8.50.
The Senate Appropriations Committee will consider the bill on Thursday. The $60 billion FY2018 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriation Act passed out of subcommittee on Tuesday.
The bill is still not declared on congressional website but the trade group Airlines for America (A4A) mentioned that the “airport sources” say that the PFC cap will be raised to $8.50.
The bill intends to provide greater flexibility for airports to make necessary improvements.
The proposal to increase the PFC cap was lauded by the Airports Council International- North America (ACI-NA) and the US Travel Association. It further mentioned that the increases will cater to the needs of rehabilitation projects and with growth in passenger and cargo traffic. The US airports require $100 billion in infrastructure work in the coming five years, the organisation mentioned.
The proposal was opposed by A4A that it was akin to the tax increase on US travellers of $3.2 billion and the airports are full of cash.
THUD would increase 2018 fiscal year funding for the FAA by $563 million up from the enacted 2017 level of $16.33 billion as per the Senate appropriation.
It will provide $1.1 billion for implementation of the NextGen GPS-based air traffic control (ATC) system. The privitaization of ATC is rejected and is under consideration in the House and President Donald Trump supported it.
The last PFC cap was raised by Congress and was assessed at the discretion of individual airports in the year 2000.
