Congress pondering costly upgrades of crowded airports

WASHINGTON — U.S. airports have become so crowded they are now "at a tipping point" that soon may tilt toward breakdown, Delta Air Lines' chief operating officer James Whitehurst warned Congress last week.

"Commercial aviation either will continue to grow and fuel our entire national economy," Whitehurst told a Senate Finance subcommittee, " ... or it will slide into a troubled and unreliable system plagued by inadequate infrastructure."

Few disagree that both airports and the air traffic control system need expensive upgrades.

But Congress must figure out how to pay for improvements. Both the House and Senate are considering bills to authorize new spending for the Federal Aviation Administration, whose budget expires Sept. 30. Lawmakers want to authorize a five-year spending plan, but time is running out for making major decisions about whether to increase excise taxes or impose new user fees.

FAA administrator Marion Blakey wants Congress to charge fees on all flights, even those made by private jets. "Corporate jets contribute very little tax revenue despite often using virtually the same airspace and services as a commercial airliner," she told lawmakers last week. As an example, she noted an airliner flying from New York to Miami would pay about $2,015 in taxes, while a large private jet would pay just $236.

Delta and other big commercial airlines agree that more of the financial burden should be shifted to general aviation — those flights not involved in military or commercial travel. Whitehurst said ticket taxes lean too heavily on passengers, who pay "far out of proportion to the costs they impose or the benefits they receive."

Lawmakers should force corporate jets to pay their "fair share," he said. "The exponential growth in business aviation and the introduction of fractional ownership of private aircraft has increased demands on the system without anywhere near an equivalent increase in the taxes and fees paid by these users."

In May, the Senate Commerce Committee passed a bill imposing a $25 fee on each flight, regardless of the size of the aircraft. The Bush administration and big airlines support that approach.