ALEXANDRIA, Va., 12 April 2013. President Obama's fiscal year 2014 budget proposal for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) "airport infrastructure financing is an improvement over last year's proposal, but it still falls short of what is necessary to meet the long-term needs of airports across the country,” says American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) Gov. President Todd Hauptli.
The statement from AAAE’s Hauptli reads:
"While we appreciate the Administration's recognition of the importance of allowing airports to have additional discretion locally to address their critical infrastructure needs through the proposed increase in the local passenger facility charge to $8, that figure is inadequate to meet the real needs that exist at airports across the country, especially when you consider that the request simultaneously calls for reducing the Airport Improvement Program by nearly half a billion dollars. The PFC was last adjusted in 2000, and its purchasing power has declined dramatically over the past 13 years due to construction cost inflation. Even at $8, airports are further behind than they were more than a decade ago in terms of their ability to finance necessary infrastructure improvements.
"Given federal budget constraints and the demonstrable infrastructure needs that exist at airports, we believe that the federal government should eliminate the arbitrary cap on PFCs and get out of business of setting limits on what airports can do locally to address pressing local needs."
“The President's budget request calls for reducing AIP funding to $2.9 billion, some $450 million below the level approved by Congress for fiscal year 2013. To help offset that reduction, the budget request calls for an increase in the federal cap on Passenger Facility Charges (PFCs) to $8. The Administration's budget also once again proposes a one-time $2 billion infusion of AIP spending as part of a larger $50 billion infrastructure package that has been rejected by Democratic and Republican Congress's alike.”
For more information, visit American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) online at http://www.aaae.org/.
