"Airlines oppose plan to allow FAA to increase fees"

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Airlines oppose plan to allow FAA to increase fees
Bloomberg News


U.S. airlines oppose a plan to allow Federal Aviation Administration chief
Marion Blakey to increase about $7.5 billion in annual fees now controlled
by Congress. 

Blakey's plan would assess airlines, business and private aircraft owners
based on their use of the nation's air-traffic control system. Blakey would
have authority to raise the fee as her agency's costs rise. 

The FAA currently collects money through taxes, set by lawmakers, on airline
passenger tickets, fuel and cargo. Blakey wants to shift to user fees for
more than half of her $14.1 billion annual budget. Congress must make a
decision before existing tax laws supporting the FAA expire on Sept. 30. 

''We cannot support a new structure that gives the FAA administrator
virtually unfettered authority to set the level and structure of fees,''
Stephen Alterman, president of the Cargo Airline Association, said at a
Senate aviation subcommittee hearing this week in Washington.

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