"Small airports wary of funding changes"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sunday, April 15, 2007 

Small airports wary of funding changes
The Associated Press


Indianapolis Executive Airport spent $3.2 million in federal money over the
past two years to build a new taxiway and make other improvements, but the
typical airline passenger - who paid some of that tab through ticket taxes -
will see little benefit. 
  
The Zionsville airport offers no commercial airline flights. Instead, it
serves mostly corporate jets and other private planes.

Passengers nationally have paid more than $104 billion in taxes and fees
over the past decade to support an increasingly beleaguered air
transportation system, an Associated Press review has found.

Yet many are unaware they've paid the assessments, and few know that $7
billion went in the last decade to smaller general aviation airports with
little or no airline traffic.

Pilots' associations and airport managers say smaller airports are vital to
the nation's air transportation network and spur economic development that
far exceeds the federal dollars they use.

But critics question whether the money is being wisely used, and Congress is
considering revamping the tax system.

That worries managers of many small airports. In Indiana, 52 airports
received a total of $54 million in 2005 and 2006 through the Airport
Improvement Program, which is funded in part by assessments from commercial
passenger tickets.

That funding "is the lifeblood of our small airports," said Bruce Payton,
director of the Monroe County Airport in Bloomington. Monroe, where more
than half of its business is noncommercial, spent $1.2 million in Airport
Improvement Program money over the past two years to surround the airport
with fencing, repair drainage and repave aprons.

Likewise, Indianapolis Executive boosted safety by adding the taxiway, which
allows planes to leave the runway after landing so they can park, said
Andrea Montgomery, who owns Montgomery Aviation and operates the airport. It
also added a reinforced concrete ramp to park business jets.

Montgomery said the federal money allows her airport to build needed
infrastructure.

"Hamilton County is a very wealthy county, but they don't have extra
millions of dollars laying around for concrete," she said.

Congress is considering scrapping many existing passenger taxes and
replacing them with user fees and a higher fuel tax that would put more of
the burden on general aviation.

General aviation airports currently pay a 24-cent tax on jet fuel toward the
Airport Improvement Program funding, but that might rise to 70 cents,
Montgomery said.

That would hurt smaller airports, according to Rod Blasdel, director of the
Columbus, Ind., municipal airport, which received a total of $4.3 million in
improvement program funds for 2005 and 2006.

Blasdel predicted a change would cut recreational flying. That, in turn,
would reduce a fuel fee the airport collects for every gallon pumped.

A fuel tax increase also might make corporations cut back on business
flights, which could hurt the Columbus airport, which sees a lot of flights
involving engine maker Cummins Inc., he said.

"When you're talking about burning anywhere from a half million to a million
gallons of fuel a year and you add 70 cents to it, you're talking about a
big wad of money," Blasdel noted.

In some cases, a higher fuel tax might kill the smallest general aviation
airports, some of which provide the only access to a remote area, Montgomery
said.

These airports help more than just the executives and Piper Cub pilots who
fly out of them, Montgomery and others argue. Indianapolis Executive Airport
made a $44 million economic impact on its community in 2005, according to a
study by the Aviation Association of Indiana.

That includes capital projects, employment at the airport, fees collected
there, and money spent in the community by travelers who land there, said
Bart Giesler, the association's executive director.

The Columbus airport made a $51 million impact, and Monroe County registered
$34 million, according to the study.

General aviation airports also provide potential relief for congested skies
over major cities, said Tony Molinaro, a spokesman for the FAA's Great Lakes
region.

"If the smaller airports do succeed and grow, they can attract commercial
airlines and service," he said, noting that an airport in Gary, Ind., offers
commercial flights. "In a place like Chicago, it really, really helps."

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