"Airport managers: AIP funds a boon for Mississippi"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sunday, April 15, 2007 

Airport managers: AIP funds a boon for Mississippi
By CHRIS TALBOTT
The Associated Press


The millions of dollars Mississippi's smaller airports receive through the
federal Airport Improvement Program spur much-needed and profitable economic
development projects, airport managers say.

The small, public airports received more than $35 million in AIP grants in
2005 and 2006. The money comes from taxes and fees paid by ticket-buying
passengers on commercial airlines, but is used in part to fund upgrades on
small airports mostly used by corporate and private aircraft.

Some question the use of public tax money to fund mostly private endeavors.
Mississippi, for example, had fewer than 1,000 paying customers fly out of
its general aviation airports in 2004 and 2005.

A move is under way in Congress to revamp the system, perhaps including
elimination or reduction of the passenger taxes and increases in fuel taxes
paid by those who fly planes out of the 55 small airports in Mississippi. No
commercial airlines are based in the state.

Bill Cotter, airport manager at Stennis International in coastal Hancock
County, said recent events have shown the value of investing in general
aviation airports.

"Why would a little ol' airport in southwest Mississippi be getting the
federal funds that they have when there's Gulfport-Biloxi 30 miles east and
New Orleans International 45 minutes west?" Cotter asked.

"But this airport was instrumental in response for Hurricane Katrina. We
were handling getting supplies into the Gulfport-Biloxi area, and even into
the New Orleans area, quicker than those airports were. This could happen in
Atlanta, in Memphis and a number of other cities where those outlying
airports are going to be the first response."

Stennis received more than $2.6 million in AIP funds the past two years.
Cotter said the money is being invested in repairs following Hurricane
Katrina and an environmental assessment for a future expansion.

Cotter said the airport - and the money it gets - is an economic boon for
Hancock County. Already a site for commercial activity, he said there are
"dreams" to make the airport an air cargo hub.

"These AIP funds generated the way they are today are really the ones
helping an airport such as Stennis get to the next level and become more
self-sufficient," he said.

Some of the smaller facilities used the federal dollars - more than $7
billion nationwide over the past decade - to accommodate a growing number of
private jets, an Associated Press review has found. The money comes with
little oversight, and at the expense of an increasingly beleaguered air
transportation system.

Passengers pay as many as six separate taxes and fees on a single airline
ticket, adding up to more than $104 billion over the past decade, the AP
found.

The taxes and fees finance the Federal Aviation Administration and its air
traffic control operations, as well as passenger and baggage screening,
federal air marshals and police presence at the nation's commercial hubs.

Hundreds of smaller airports also are among the beneficiaries. These run the
gamut from remote rural airstrips serving crop-dusters and hobbyists, to
"executive" airports serving corporate jets and exclusive resort
destinations.

Five airports in Mississippi received more than $1 million each in AIP funds
in 2005-06.

The largest amount went to John Bell Williams Airport in Raymond.

Airport manager Michele Jackson makes no apologies for the funding. Jackson
said the airport is making runway, taxiway and other improvements that will
cost $9 million to $10 million to help lure in corporate business and earn
reliever status for Jackson International Airport.

Jackson thinks the AIP money earned each year is a bargain in Mississippi.
General aviation airports bring $860 million in business to the state each
year, the National Business Aviation Association says.

Jackson said a consequence of potential changes being considered in Congress
would be the loss of a small but thriving industry.

"There's so many mom-and-pop operations with two, three, four, five people
employed," Jackson said. "When you drive general aviation out of the skies,
and this (plan) will, you're going to be putting tens of thousands of people
out of work. It's just incredible. It's mindboggling what could happen."

Congress is considering replacing some taxes paid by airline passengers with
user fees and fuel tax increases.

Jackson said the plan will give commercial airlines a tax break of $1.7
billion and "cripple" general aviation with a $1 billion tax and fee
increase.

Jackson and Cotter said corporations would have an advantage they don't
deserve.

"Somebody could argue why is any local municipality going to a ribbon
cutting for Joe and Cindy's little shop when Wal-Mart's around the corner,"
Cotter said. "We should go and give all the money to Wal-Mart?"

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