Fwd: Allegheny County Airport Authority Paves Way for Debt Reduction

--- Colleen Turner <colleenturner@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2004 23:51:17 -0800 (PST)
> From: Colleen Turner <colleenturner@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Allegheny County Airport Authority Paves
> Way for Debt Reduction 
> To: airport@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 
> Airport Authority Paves Way for Debt Reduction 
> 
> The Associated Press 
> 1/10/2004, 12:55 p.m. ET 
> 
> 
> IMPERIAL, Pa. (AP) — The Allegheny County Airport
> Authority will ask the Federal Aviation
> Administration
> for $95 million in reimbursements for work done more
> than a decade ago at Pittsburgh International
> Airport.
> 
> The money would be used to reduce the airport's debt
> of about $640 million, which would in turn reduce
> the
> costs for airlines at the airport.
> 
> If the full reimbursements are approved, airport
> debt
> service payments paid by carriers would decline
> between $10 million and $12 million a year for the
> short term, Authority Executive Director Kent George
> said Friday.
> 
> US Airways, the airport's dominant carrier, which
> pays
> about $50 million toward airport debt service, would
> be the biggest beneficiary. George said the
> potential
> reimbursement wouldn't come close to satisfying the
> airline's demands that its service be reduced by $40
> million annually. The airline also wants the
> airport's
> debt cut by $500 million.
> 
> Still, US Airways welcomed the news.
> 
> "This is a positive step in the right direction to
> bring down the debt and preserve the hub," spokesman
> David Castelveter said.
> 
> Under the application, the authority would recapture
> the $95 million over a period of years through the
> $3
> fee charged to boarding passengers at the airport.
> If
> approved, the airport could charge up to $4.50 a
> passenger, the maximum allowed, but George said no
> decision had been made on whether to increase the
> fee.
> The approval process could take six months.
> 
> The authority board also ratified the new US Airways
> long-term lease at the airport. The airline has
> committed to leasing 10 gates, down from 50, until
> 2018. It is now leasing another 40 gates on a
> monthly
> basis.
> 
> 
> 

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