"Somerset airport among Kentucky's projects from airline taxes"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Somerset airport among Kentucky's projects from airline taxes
By JOE BIESK
The Associated Press


SOMERSET, Ky. --The new passenger terminal in town is like many others
across the country, with signs around the landscaped parking lot directing
visitors to their arrivals and departures while curbside benches and
ashtrays wait for weary travelers.

Except here, the lights are off, the doors are locked and nobody's going
anywhere - not for now, anyway.

Somerset-Pulaski County Airport's J.T. Wilson Field is a "general aviation"
facility for private and charter aircraft, and home base to a corporate jet
and some 25 other aircraft. Depending on the season - summer's the busiest -
the airport might handle between about 25 to 28 jet flights per week,
airport manager Ron Swartz said.

Airport officials hope the $3.5 million passenger terminal, completed last
summer, can help them land a commercial carrier by the end of the year.

"Hopefully, with it built, it will come," said Dennis Bolton, the operations
manager at Honaker Aviation, which is based at the airport.

Across the country, general aviation facilities, such as the Somerset
airport, have received more than $7 billion for upgrades over the past
decade, a review by The Associated Press has found.

In Kentucky, such airports - used primarily by private, corporate and
charter aircraft - have received nearly $26 million from the FAA's Airport
Improvement Program over the last two years alone.

When commercial airline passengers purchase tickets they pay up to six
separate taxes and fees on a ticket - more than $104 billion over the last
10 years, the AP found. Those taxes and fees help finance the FAA and its
operations at commercial airports across the country. Airports that serve
private jets and other aircraft also receive money from the FAA to help pay
for improvement projects.

Passengers on noncommercial flights only pay taxes in limited circumstances.
And, the industry's fuel tax covers only a portion of the services it
consumes.

Take, for example, the Somerset airport, which is in the hometown of U.S.
Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky.

The airfield, which handles about two dozen business jet flights per week,
has received more than $12 million in federal airport improvement grants
since 2001. It has received nearly $2.7 million in the last two years.

Money has gone for things like buying land for a new runway, encircling the
airstrip with a fence to keep out wild animals and other threats, and
constructing a taxiway.

Other small airports across the state have also received millions in grants
since 2005:

- Capital City Airport, in Frankfort, has received more than $4 million for
a runway extension, fencing and other improvements.

- Addington Field, in Elizabethtown, collected $450,000 for a corporate
hangar.

- Louisville's Bowman Field received about $3.6 million for projects,
including a runway rehabilitation.

- The Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport took in about $1.2
million to buy land and make other improvements.

- Marion-Crittenden County Airport in western Kentucky spent nearly $745,000
over the past two years on a terminal building, fencing and runway lighting.

At Somerset, officials are trying to lure a commuter airline and hope to
have daily service to Cincinnati by the end of the year, Swartz said.
Officials believe there's a market of about 18,200 potential commercial
passengers per year, Swartz said.

Somerset's population is near 12,000 people.

Currently, the airport handles about 29,000 private flights per year, said
Mark Brown, a state Transportation Cabinet spokesman, said.

Area residents looking for a commercial flight have limited flight options
now, Swartz said. The nearest commercial airport is Lexington, about 80
miles to the north. Other airports in the region include Cincinnati, about
165 miles north; Louisville, about 130 miles northwest; or Nashville, Tenn.,
about 175 miles southwest of Somerset.

"The end goal on that is to give the people of this region the opportunity
to buy one ticket here where you don't have to go into the big airports,
don't have to travel so far and don't have to wait the long lines for TSA
security," Swartz said.

Jim Pettit, a spokesman for Rogers, said bringing a fully functioning
airport to the region was "critical" for transportation needs and would help
attract additional business and tourism. The region, which is near Lake
Cumberland, has about 5 million tourists per year, Pettit said.

Attracting commuter service to smaller communities can be successful if an
airline believes there's a market, said Dick Marchi, of the airport trade
organization Airports Council International.

"It's a tricky balancing act," Marchi said. "You can't hope to have air
service if you don't have some level of facilities, but that's not to say
that you're going to get the service."

Congress is considering a plan that would change the FAA's funding sources
and, among other things, increase fuel taxes on private planes.

Richard Wham, a member of the Henderson City-County Airport Board in western
Kentucky, opposes the idea.

Having a strong airport that serves corporate and private jets helps local
economies, Wham said. Henderson's airport handles between 50 to 75 flights
per day, many of which are vital to area businesses, Wham said.

Henderson's airport has received about $1.3 million since 2005, including
$275,000 to expand a terminal building and a grant of about $1 million to
widen a runway and make other improvements.

"The airport improvement grants, those things have been a godsend to small
airports," Wham said.

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