"New U.S. Aviation Security Fee to Start Feb. 1"

Monday, December 31, 2001

New U.S. Aviation Security Fee to Start Feb. 1


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Air travelers in the United States will on Feb. 1
start paying up to $10 extra on a round- trip ticket to help cover the
cost of added security, the U.S. Department of Transportation said on
Monday. 

Carriers with aircraft departing from U.S. airports will be responsible
for collecting $2.50 per travel segment, up to $5 on a one-way ticket,
from travelers Feb. 1 to help pay for passenger and baggage screeners,
security managers and law enforcement personnel at airports and other
security steps. 

In November, President Bush signed into law a measure that would make
screeners of passengers and baggage federal workers within one year,
require 100 percent screening of bags and deploy explosive detection
systems all at a cost of about $2.5 billion-$2.6 billion. 

Security at U.S. airports have been under the microscope and heavily
criticized since Sept. 11, when four airliners were hijacked by men
carrying box-cutter knives. 

Two of the aircraft toppled the World Trade Center twin towers, a third
hit the Pentagon and the fourth crashed in an field, leading to the
death of more than 3,000 in all. 

``Both the (Bush) administration and Congress are committed to making
significant improvements in aviation security,'' U.S. Transportation
Secretary Norman Mineta said in a statement. 

``The funds raised through this Sept. 11 security fee will be used to
implement new aviation security measures to help achieve this important
goal.'' 

About $900 million would be raised in fiscal 2002, the DOT said.


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